Saskatchewan: will lacklustre NDP hand victory to Scott Moe?

On or before October 28, 2024 there will be a provincial election in Saskatchewan. After 17 years of Saskatchewan (Sask) Party rule, perhaps people in Saskatchewan have had enough.

 

The Sask Party was formed after the disastrous reign of Grant Devine and the Saskatchewan Conservative Party, which almost bankrupted the province. It was made up of both disillusioned conservatives and liberals. Suffice to say the Sask Party is just a regrouping of the Conservative Party.

 

The Sask Party under Scott Moe follows the Ford government in Ontario and the Smith government in Alberta in privatizing healthcare, denying trans rights, denying climate change and not giving a damn about the homeless, the poor and workers' rights and conditions.

 

According to recent data from Angus Reid, two issues stand above all others among Saskatchewan voters: the state of health care, and the high cost of living.

 

CUPE 5430, a healthcare union, has shown their wages have only increased by 14% while inflation has increased by 27% since 2018. In Saskatchewan, the cost of living for an individual per month is $1097 without rent, and for a family of four it’s $3848 without rent.

 

Rent has increased from $800 a month for a bachelor suite to about $1500 in the same time period. For people on Social Assistance in 2018, a single person received only $375 a month, excluding money for rent. In 2024 social assistance recipients were given a 3% increase to $386.25. If you want more there is much paperwork to fill out and many people to see and convince that you need the extra money.

 

Right now, healthcare workers, from housekeepers to doctors, are at the mercy of a computerized system called the Administrative Information Management System (AIMS) to get paid. It not only gets your pay wrong, it often does not pay you at all. So, recruitment to healthcare is dismal and definitely continuing the strain on healthcare workers due to staff shortages and a freeze on hiring until the problems with the system are fixed. These problems have been ongoing for six months since the AIMS system was reintroduced.

 

Sask Party Schmooze

 

This government spent a million dollars to schmooze Dubai businesses to invest or come to Saskatchewan. Nice holiday for the Premier and other cabinet ministers and staff! At the same time, they cannot guarantee monies to aid teachers to reduce class sizes and purchase extra resources for schools. They will not let the teachers have language in their contracts to ensure dollars won are kept and won’t disappear after the election.

 

Food Banks are used by more and more people and this increase has been happening in large numbers since COVID. However, only recently has the government decided to give Saskatchewan Food Banks extra funding— $1 million this August and another million in 2025-26 after the election. Hopefully it won’t be like education funding where the monies disappeared after the Sask Party got re-elected.

 

They don’t care about the homeless, who are predominantly Indigenous. In Saskatoon, 90%, in Regina, 79%, and in Prince Albert, 99%, of people experiencing homelessness are Indigenous.

 

There are very few well-run shelters. In Saskatoon, residents are in an uproar about a shelter that accommodates many inadequately without proper facilities that people can use. During the day people have to find places to be. Many wander the streets in the neighbourhoods. If a person has addiction problems, they are not even allowed into the shelter. They are left on the streets, vulnerable to weather or violence.

 

Community Support Workers and Fire Support Workers know of well-run shelters but there are not enough of them to meet the need. In a CBC interview, these workers expressed their disappointment, not understanding why financial resources are not being directed to this kind of shelter. One in particular offers resources and support to individuals in health and mental health. If there were more shelters like this one, there would be less strain on hospitals, businesses and neighbourhoods, and people would get the help they need.

 

The government also does not fund safe injection sites. Their answer is to give more funding to the police to only build rehab centres that people have agreed to go to, with no thought of how they will integrate back into the community.

 

Community workers also suggest that a few more shelters would save much money instead of only putting “bandages” on the problems. People experiencing homelessness could find places to live and regain dignity in their lives with adequate funding of good shelters.

 

More cops and scapegoating

 

The other item Sask Party spends money on is a separate police force from the RCMP and local police. So there will be a third police force that is entirely run by the government of Saskatchewan. The NDP has fought this on the grounds there should have been more consultation with the people of Saskatchewan about the creation of a new police force.

 

On gender and trans rights, this government brought in legislation that teachers have to consult parents before students have a right to use their preferred pronouns. They can't change them unless their parents are consulted. Students put up a valiant fight, but the legislation went through. However, at the Pride Parade Sask Party officials were not allowed to participate because of their draconian legislation.

 

On climate change, there really isn’t much done. Drilling for more oil and gas is one of their answers. Adding small nuclear reactors in communities is another answer.

 

However, the NDP is not seen to be a viable solution to help the homeless or to improve healthcare and education. When they speak, they often don't have solutions to the problems. They reiterate the problems but are only interested in solutions that speak to the middle class, such as lowering gas prices or interest rates.

 

They don't stand firmly with the working class, demanding better conditions and cost of living indexes. No talk about what they would do for the homeless, Indigenous communities, and people with multiple health problems.

 

This explains why many see little hope in an NDP government. For those who aren’t aligned to any party this may mean people not bothering to vote, feeling that having an NDP government in power will make little difference.

 

This absence of a credible alternative to the left could mean forces further to the right capture the discontent – namely, the far-right Saskatchewan United party.

 

Not only might the lacklustre NDP hand over another victory to the vicious politicians of the Saskatchewan Party – their failure to offer a serious alternative could push the political spectrum even further to the right.