Whether or not there would be a snap spring election, the carbon tax, the economy and concerns about COVID-19 were debated during Question Period on the first day of the spring sitting at the Saskatchewan Legislature. It began with NDP Leader Ryan Meili questioning if the government has a plan to prepare for an outbreak and to deal with the economic impacts of the novel coronavirus. Premier Scott Moe says he has spoken with Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, and the Premiers touched on it briefly during their conference call with the Prime Minister. Moe expects there will be more discussions with the other Premiers in the next few days. Meili wondered how much room there would be in Saskatchewan’s hospitals, with emergency rooms already over capacity.
He adds that the economy was suffering before COVID-19 with the lowest wage growth in the country, and although the Premier says we have a strong economy, Meili believes we don’t. Moe replied that he has never alluded to the fact that there aren’t challenges with the economy, but despite that they have added 76-thousand jobs in the past 10 years and 175-thousand people have moved to this province.
Meili asked the Premier if there would be a snap spring election, but the Premier didn’t answer the question directly. He instead pointed out the schools and hospitals his government has provided and the economic growth, despite the NDP claims to the contrary. Legislation is in place for an October 26th provincial election but the Premier has the option of calling for an early vote.
Both the official opposition and the Sask Party government say they are against the carbon tax, but the Premier doesn’t believe that’s the case.
He quoted Meili from 2016 saying he was in favour of a price on carbon. Meili clarified that the NDP doesn’t like the Justin Trudeau carbon tax, because it doesn’t fit for Saskatchewan. The opposition Leader says the Premier likes to talk about the carbon tax no matter what the topic because it’s a political win for him. He knows the people of Saskatchewan don’t like it, so Meili suggests the Sask Party didn’t come up with a better plan because it would be killing “the goose that laid the political golden egg”.
