Well it’s the end of the Brad Wall era in Saskatchewan. The Sask Party has chosen Scott Moe as their next leader and he will become the 15th premier in the province’s history. The votes from the Sask Party were quite split, however, as he only won with 4.483 votes of the 17,159 Sask Party members that cast their ballots.
The MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook and now former Minister of Environment will be set to task immediately. He will have to staff his office, decide on cabinet members, and the budget is the top priority once those two tasks have been completed.
Moe’s promises when it comes to the province include a removal of PST on crop, life, accident, and health insurance; a five percent workforce reduction in executive council and Crown Corporation staff through attrition and retirement. He has also promised the education system $30 million to be put towards education, educational assistants, and support staff in schools… something the Wall government had been cutting.
Critics are saying that the promise of increased funding for schools and a balanced budget will be out of reach for the new Premier, but he had worked on the previous budget cycle and maintains a commitment to balancing the budget.
When it comes to politics I know a balanced budget looks good. The only thing better would be if they fixed the numbers on the budget so we were making money because obviously it’s never good to lose money. However, the problem with a budget is that it’s just that it’s an estimate. You can anticipate how much something will be, how much you’ll spend here or there, and how much income the province will garner; but, none of that is set in stone and things can change.
Moe is considered to have strong rural ties and has stated that he opposes the provincial NDP and will stand up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in regards to the federally imposed carbon tax as he spoke on Saturday; but, will anything come of this or not is the question.
I still wonder if we allow the carbon tax and just give deductions and money back… after all the money stays in the province and would be another stream of revenue for those in power. With a cap and trade program too, you’re able to lower costs for large industries as they can have the ability to use what is allocated to other businesses.
When it comes to politics, I would say I am slightly left of centre, but I don’t personally feel one party in Canada is really all that different than another. So, although this is simply a party head change, it will be interesting to see if there is much of a difference from under Wall. I never agreed with cutting funding to education, so now that Moe wants to bring back some of that funding I’ve warmed to him already. But, politics are never as straight forward as we outside of them think they are.
It will be interesting to see what happens with our next elections, which is scheduled to be held no later than Nov. 2, 2020.
