LANG - In alphabetical order, the first in our series of leaders’ profiles is an interview with the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, Carla Beck.
Beck has represented Regina Lakeview since 2016 and was on the Regina Public School Board before that. But she spent her early years in Lang, Saskatchewan where she and the rest of her family spent many hours out on the baseball diamond.
Here are highlights from our interview with Beck which took place in Lang.
Beck describes her background:
"We're sitting in my mum and dad's dining room right now in Lang. This isn't the house that I grew up in. This was my grandparents house when I was growing up in Lang. We lived at the farm. But there are a lot of good memories in in this house, including I was reminded today that it was about right here 27 years ago or so that my husband proposed to me, right in this room.
"But there there are a lot of great memories here of growing up in Lang and being at my grandma and grandpa's house."
About her involvement in baseball:
"You know, for almost everyone in our family, baseball was was a big part of our lives growing up. The local baseball field over here is named Beck Field after my grandpa. Our family’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame in the Battlefords, as well as my dad and my grandpa. We all played baseball growing up or softball, You know, there was always someone had to keep score and shag balls and be on the field. Yeah, a lot of great memories growing up playing baseball. All of the grandkids have played baseball at some time as well. My mom and dad have 11 grandkids. They all can throw and hit a pitch.
"… Well, certainly there are curveballs in politics — I'm not sure if it it prepared me for politics, but I know that there are a lot of people that that I got to meet growing up in in towns right across southern Saskatchewan because of baseball and some some good friendships formed throughout."
About why she ran for the NDP leadership
"Well, maybe it's in some ways the same way, the same reason, I ended up in on the school board and in provincial politics, there was a job that needed to be done. You know, I was in a good position to take the leadership at that time and I knew that we had a lot of building to do within our party to ensure that we were ready for this election.
"So it's been about two and a half years that I've been the leader of the party. We've got a great team around us. We've been working incredibly hard not just during the writ period but over the last two years, reaching out to people right across this province. The platform that we're putting forward very much has been built with with people right across this province."
What differentiates the NDP:
"Well, the first one, health care. Our party has a very proud history when it comes to health care in this province, of course the birthplace of Medicare brought in by by our party. What we see in the province right now is very much a health care system that's on the brink, and a government that has failed to act, failed to listen to those cries, that sounding of the alarm by health care workers for years. People are fed up and are looking for change.
"We're going to invest in health care, and work with health care workers to stabilize the workforce and ensure that people have the care that they need.
"Education, close to my heart and a big part of the reason I got into provincial politics, has been underfunded for a decade under the Sask Party. We can't wait to make those investments, kids don't get a second chance at a first start in school and we're going to make the investments to restore the damage, and you know, start building the quality education that I received when when I was growing up and so many of us did.
"You know, our plan is also costed, something that we've not seen from this government. They've added debt while still managing to underfund and neglect the health care and the education system. A big piece of what we're hearing from people in the province right now is they're struggling. They're working harder and harder and finding it more and more difficult to pay their bills. We've got a plan to offer them some relief, and to offer them relief right away.
"Day one, cutting the gas tax. Something that we've seen in other provinces and would save people money from the first days of our government. Also, cutting some of the expansion that Scott Moe has put on the people of Saskatchewan with the PST on things like groceries and children's clothing. We've got a plan to do that by Christmas. And also an effective plan to get tough on crime, but also address the root causes of crime. Something that we've not seen from this government.
"So those are our main priorities and those have been built based on our conversations with Saskatchewan people to address their top concerns."
On taxes, and their plan to suspend the gas tax for six months:
"So first of all, the first commitment that we made to people in this province is that we wouldn't increase taxes. We've got a plan that does not increase taxes across the board for the full term of an NDP government. The reason that we chose the gas tax is that it is something that we could do immediately. It's something we've seen done in other provinces and is something that people have told us would make a difference to them in their lives."
Education:
"We have students who are in grade 12 this year in Saskatchewan who have only known year-over-year cuts and underfunding. The Sask Party has taken us from leaders in education to last place when it comes to per-pupil funding and it's our kids that are paying the price. Kids today in schools are simply not getting the same quality of education that they were a decade ago. That's not because we don't have fantastic teachers. That's not because we don't have parents who want the very best for their kids. It's not because we don't have skilled people working in our schools. It's because the government has consistently underfunded our classrooms.
"They have disrespected teachers. They have failed to work collaboratively with school boards to address the interests in classrooms. They have turned a deaf ear to so many who are speaking out saying, you know, we can't withstand any more cuts to our kids classrooms. We've got a plan to undo the damage that's been done by the Sask Party to our kids' classrooms and start rebuilding the quality of education in this province, because our kids don't get a second chance."
Health care:
"Yeah, I mean there are so many concerns in health care right now. The nurses have been, you know, coming forward with horror story after horror story -- emergency rooms at 350 per cent capacity, people going for hours without care in waiting in emergency rooms. Closures across rural Saskatchewan, people driving up to their local hospital only to find a piece of paper on the door and then wondering if, you know, they should phone an ambulance or try to get in their vehicle and drive back down the highway.
"We've seen more than one in five of our nurses from rural Saskatchewan leave the province or leave the profession altogether. I don't know how we're going to fix what is what is wrong with our health care system right now, but I do know this it has to start with retaining the health care workers we have, first, working with health care workers, working with folks on the front line to stabilize the workforce, to continue to recruit people to to health care, to invite those who have recently retired or who have left the profession early to come back and rebuild health care in this province.
"We've got an investment of $1.1 billion dollars. But the only issue or the issue in health care isn't just funding, it is where money is going. We’ve seen the AIMS program, for example, go three times over budget, now getting close to 300 million dollars. It still doesn't work. It is not paying health care workers properly and health care workers are burnt out. They're frustrated with being disrespected, we're losing more health care workers than any other province right now. We need to stabilize the existing workforce and we're not going to do that if we don't start listening to nurses in this province."
To hear our interview with Carla Beck click play below.
