October 15, 2024 | Advertise with us

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Moe announces full Saskatchewan Party election platform, pledges to freeze small business tax

Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party have announced their full election platform.

Moe said at a campaign event in Saskatoon on Saturday that his party’s plan is one for a “Strong Economy and a Bright Future”, the slogan of the Saskatchewan Party campaign. The document lays out the party’s plan for affordability, investing in communities and families, improving access to women’s health services, and supporting small businesses and growing the economy. The platform outlines all of the promises that Moe has made over the past two weeks.

he party says their platform costs $1.2 billion over five years, and the 77-page platform document ends with projecting party’s plan for a path to balanced budgets by 2027-28. It projects a $366 million deficit budget by the end of 2024-25.

At an announcement on Friday in the riding of Dakota-Arm River, Moe also pledged to freeze the small business tax rate that was slated to double next year. The rate will remain at 1%, instead of increasing to 2%.

Moe announced other business initiatives, saying, “A Saskatchewan Party government will also create a new Saskatchewan Young Entrepreneur Bursary. We will provide an annual grant of $285,000 to the Saskatchewan Chamber for local Chambers throughout the province to use to provide $5,000 bursaries to local young entrepreneurs for business development.”

The Saskatchewan NDP criticized the release of the Saskatchewan Party’s platform, saying it “invests nothing to help overrun Saskatchewan emergency rooms, nothing to recruit new doctors and healthcare workers, and nothing to reduce class sizes and help kids receive the education they deserve.”

The Saskatchewan Party’s full election platform can be viewed here.

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Beck announces election platform, as NDP launch new Facebook ad buy

Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck spoke in Saskatoon to announce her party’s full election platform last week.

The NDP’s platform emphasizes investment in healthcare, education, and affordability. Beck has promised to invest $2 billion into education and $1 billion into healthcare “to get Saskatchewan out of last place.” Beck has also promised to remove the PST on gas, children’s clothing, and more. She has also promised not to raise taxes.

The website now has a video on how the NDP will pay for the promises and a balance sheet of how the party will get to balanced budgets by 2028. The NDP’s full plan can be viewed here.

In response to the platform release, the Saskatchewan Party said that the NDP had a “do-over” on their platform costing, but got “revenue and expenses mixed up”. The Saskatchewan Party had previously criticized the NDP’s “fiscal framework”, saying they had left a $3 billion hole in their platform.

The NDP has also started running various ads on Facebook and Instagram. The party’s account is running ten different social ads with different versions. The SKoop will report on the party’s ad spending later this week.

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The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce has launched "Fueling Momentum 2024," a policy platform for the 2024 Provincial Election. Based on extensive consultations and research, it outlines key priorities from the Saskatchewan business community to inform all political parties.

Learn more here.

New polling shows Sask. Party with lead

The Saskatchewan Party is ahead of the Saskatchewan NDP at the midway point of the provincial electoral campaign, a new Research Co. poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 51% of decided voters would support the Saskatchewan Party’s candidate in their constituency, while 43% would vote for the New Democrats. The Green Party is third with 3%, while 2% of decided voters would back other parties or independents.

“The Saskatchewan Party has a 15-point advantage over the NDP among male decided voters (55% to 40%),” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The two parties are virtually tied among female decided voters (Sask. Party 48%, NDP 47%).”

“On a regional basis, the race is very close in Saskatoon (NDP 47%, Sask. Party 46%). The governing party is ahead in Regina (51% to 45%) and in the rest of the province (61% to 35%).” The Regina number is an outlier when compared to recent Insightrix and Angus Reid Polling where the NDP leads in Regina.

Beck posts an impressive momentum score of +14 (with 30% of likely voters in Saskatchewan saying their opinion of her has improved since the start of the campaign). Moe’s score on this question is even (24% of respondents say their views on him have improved, and 24% say they have worsened). Moe holds the upper hand on Beck when decided voters are asked who would make the “Best Premier” of Saskatchewan (42% to 29%).

When it comes to top issues, similar proportions of likely voters in Saskatchewan select two issues as the most important ones facing the province: health care (27%) and housing, poverty and homelessness (26%). Fewer respondents are primarily concerned about the economy and jobs (18%), crime and public safety (10%), education (5%), the environment (3%) and accountability (2%).

The full poll can be viewed here.

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Two Saskatoon Councillors Acclaimed

The incumbent councillors in Ward 9 and 10 have been acclaimed in Saskatoon.

Bev Dubois and Zach Jeffries will not need to contest their re-election to city council after nobody challenged them.

Dubois was first elected in Ward 10 from 2003-2012 and was re-elected in Ward 9 from 2016 until now. This will be her sixth term on City Council. She is the former CEO of the Meewasin Foundation, Vice President of Sales & Operations for Canadian Digital Network Ltd., Manager of Investor Relations for SREDA, and Business & Marketing Manager for Ernst & Young. She has served on the FCM and CUTA national boards.

Jeffries was first elected to council in 2012, defeating Dubois. He is a local business owner, consultant, and volunteer. Jeffries self-describes leading Council’s strategic priority area of Information Technology (IT). City Council is prioritizing the area of IT to provide benefits to citizens, including improving services offered to the community and providing more cost-effective delivery of City programs.

Jeffries and Dubois will serve on a new-look Saskatoon City Council that will see a new Mayor and at least 5 new Councillors.

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Multiple Liberal MPs sign letter asking for Trudeau to step down

As the Prime Minister and his Chief of Staff are out of the country last week, disgruntled Liberal MPs were quietly organizing in favour of his ouster.

CBC News is reporting that disgruntled Liberal MPs held a series of meetings to discuss a path forward for the party since the surprising Toronto-St. Paul's byelection loss in June. Those talks accelerated with Parliament's return and the Montreal byelection loss. They escalated further this week with the prime minister and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, out of the country for a summit in Asia. Some MPs are being asked to sign their names to what amounts to a pledge to stand together in calling for Trudeau to resign, multiple sources said.

The document isn't a letter to be circulated; sources describe it as a vehicle to secure a commitment from MPs to seek a leadership change, and to bind the MPs to that goal if the prime minister and his supporters push back.

These sources said at least 20 MPs have signed the document so far, with others voicing their support for the cause. One MP who signed the document told CBC News the number of MP signatures has spilled onto a second page.

Justin Trudeau’s personal popularity has been very low in the polls consistently and the Liberal Party is now polling third in English Canada.

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More news and info

• Liberals announce new campaign director amid new push to oust Trudeau (CTV News)

• 🏠 7 in 10 Saskatchewan voters think housing should be a top priority for elected officials. That is why Saskatchewan’s Housing Leaders have launched Secure Homes, Strong Future­ – a housing policy blueprint for Saskatchewan ahead of the 2024 provincial election. Built on grassroots consultation and expert insight, this plan provides common sense ideas that will improve affordability, unlock development, lower construction costs and build more homes faster. Click here to learn more.*

• Conservatives lead by 21 despite negative impressions of Pierre Poilievre rising (Abacus Data)

• Mid-sized cities could play out-sized role in Sask. election, experts say (CBC News)

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