A little over a month ago, Scott Moe was the province’s Minister of Environment, but that changed when he made the decision to run for leadership of the Saskatchewan Party and the accompanying role as Premier at the beginning of September.
Moe says his campaign is very much a team effort, and that his inspiration in running for the party leadership was very similar to what pushed him to run in past elections.
“It was really the same thoughts that inspired me to run in the 2011 election, and that’s to represent your community and try to be part of the decisions and conversation in enhancing our communities and enhancing the economy,” said Scott, sitting down with The Outlook. “Those same conversations are what I think inspires anybody to consider putting their name in for leadership of the party. But even further than that, it was some of the discussions that I had with some of my colleagues; what do we want our province to look like and our communities to look like in the decade ahead? How are we going to get there as a party and as a governing party? What is our leadership team going to look like out into those years to ensure that we’re successful when we go to the people of the province every four years to ask for their support? It’s after those discussions and the team that we put together that I made the decision to enter my name in the race for the party leadership, and I can honestly say this; when we go out as a team, I happen to be the individual standing at the microphone and it’s my name on the ballot, but it’s all of us together and I wouldn’t be there without them.”
Moe, who was raised on a grain farm and currently lives in Shellbrook with his wife and two children, was first elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature in the 2011 provincial election for the Rosthern-Shellbrook constituency, and was re-elected in 2016.
Having served as Minister of Environment has allowed Scott to obtain a unique perspective on the issues facing that sector, and he says the province needs to show what it’s capable of when it comes to production and innovation.
“On environment, I think that would be a fair statement,” said Moe, when asked about having a unique perspective. “I think it’s important for us in this province to stand up and remind our federal government and other Canadians of the advantages that we have in using our energy products here that are relative to others in the world that are produced in a very sustainable fashion. Most notably, I think it’s important for us to remember what we’ve done in agriculture over the last couple of decades with respect to innovation, technology and changes in agronomic practices.”
Moe’s policies and vision for the province are centered on goals such as balancing the books and standing side-by-side with businesses in the province.
“Our policy initiatives will revolve around three main platform topics,” he said. “The first will be a commitment to balanced budgets, and we came out this last Tuesday with an initiative where we recommitted to balancing the budget so we’d have a balanced one by 2019, and in doing so, we also proposed that we have a plan to reinstate the PST exemption on crop insurance, hail insurance, life insurance and health insurance. Our second platform policy initiative would revolve around continued support for communities and families across the province, and we’ll have more on that in the weeks ahead. Our third and final platform initiative is around standing with Saskatchewan industries and businesses. I think we should never forget the export-based economy we have that affects the careers available in our communities and affects the population growth that we’re able to acquire. In Saskatchewan, we export goods to countries all around the world, and those export dollars are our source points of wealth here in the province, and they’re our source points of careers in our communities. Anything we can do to increase those exports will allow us to employ more people. Those people live in your community and mine. It allows our children to choose a career near or where they grew up or a place of their choice here in the province.”
Another of Scott’s initiatives he revealed is that he would replace the Minister of Economy with a Minister of Export and Trade, focusing solely on the incoming/outgoing practices of provincial goods and products such as wheat, barley, and mining and energy products.
“We would also place trade commissioners on the ground in some of our largest markets,” he said. “The United States obviously is our largest market, and we would treat that market differently because of its geography, but we have a number of markets that are very important to Saskatchewan. Those trade commissioners would represent Saskatchewan alongside the Canadian efforts that we have in other countries already.”
Touching on what people are saying to him on the campaign trail, Moe says that people have shown support for the province’s goal to have the books balanced in the next two years, knowing that the continued sustainability of providing services such as education, health care and safer communities requires a solid financial standing.
Since Scott announced his bid for leadership, a total of 22 MLA’s have given him the thumbs-up and pledged their support for him, perhaps making Moe something of a frontrunner in this early stage of the campaign trail. One of those supporters is Rosetown-Elrose MLA and the provincial Minister of Health, Jim Reiter, who touched on his colleague’s modesty and leadership qualities.
“Everything with Scott is modest, and that’s not lost on our caucus,” said Jim. “He’s got obvious leadership abilities; he’s very intelligent, has a quick grasp of policy and an incredibly hard worker. I’ll put it to you this way: the approach Scott’s taken about this being a team effort, you never hear ‘Me me me’ as politicians can be notoriously arrogant, and there’s not an ounce of arrogance in him. I’ve heard this from more than one colleague that the day we did the kick-off at a trucking company outside Saskatoon, there was more than 20 MLA’s standing with Scott. We were about to go out, and there’s a podium, and someone made the comment, ‘OK, everybody stand behind Scott’, and he goes, ‘No, you’re not going to stand behind me, stand *beside* me’, and I think that just speaks volumes. The people that work with him every day are the people that want him to be the leader. I’m really proud of this guy, and I’m going to do whatever I can to help him.”
On the topic of the federal government-introduced notion of a carbon tax, Moe says that imposing such an initiative is not only a questionable move based on past evidence, but a potentially dangerous one for the province’s work force.
“I think when it comes to the imposition of a carbon tax by the federal government on the people of this province, or the people of Canada for that matter, we should first acknowledge this: it’s poor policy and it doesn’t work,” he said. “It has not worked in any jurisdiction that it’s been imposed on in North America, so why would we even look at a policy that doesn’t work? Further to that, it’s a cost on families across the province that it would be imposed on, which it will not. We’re an export-based province here; why would we impose a cost on our products and risk those products being produced in other areas? If the federal government is still willing to move forward with attempting to impose this tax on not just Saskatchewan, but potentially another province or two not willing to do it, then we will challenge them on a constitutional basis.”
Keeping on the vein of environment and the federal government, Moe touched on the news that had just broke that the Energy East pipeline project had been cancelled.
“Very unfortunate with the announcement yesterday,” he said. “Here are billions of dollars in private investment that would benefit all Canadians in the construction of the pipeline, but also benefit all Canadians in the access to a Canadian energy product that is produced in Western Canada, and also the increase to our economic activity across the country. It’s very disappointing to understand why the application is being pulled because of changes to the federal regulations, and just a very disappointing day for all of Canada.”
Moe addressed the recently-introduced and heavily criticized tax changes to the small business landscape in the country, stating that the impact from it has the ability to go far.
“The impact from this is tremendous,” he said. “The impact is very direct to our farmers, tradesmen that work in our communities, and also to the retail industries within our communities. The indirect impact can be just as concerning, however. This is a government that has invested heavily in the recruitment of medical professionals, and we must remember that many of our physicians are private corporations, and they’ll be affected by these federal income tax changes. I don’t understand why you’d introduce a policy initiative such as this that directly affects the people that employ and people in all communities. We need to look at policies that allow those businesses to flourish so that they can hire more people; not to start looking at shrinking their operations.”
Touching on the impact that outgoing premier Brad Wall has made on the province, both Reiter and Moe say that he will go down in the history books as one of the best leaders in the history of Saskatchewan, if not Canada altogether.
“I think history is going to be very kind to Brad Wall,” said Jim. “You look at the changes that have happened in the province under his leadership; the province has grown instead of shrinking, our economy is stronger than it’s ever been, all under his stewardship. History is going to show him to be one of the best leaders in the entire country, and I think it’ll be very kind to him.”
“As we know, the Premier has been a great leader for the province,” said Scott. “He’s been known as a great communicator, not just for Saskatchewan but for Western Canada and oftentimes the nation. He’s been collaborative with all of those when need be, and he’s also been willing to stand for Saskatchewan’s interests when required to. I think Brad Wall’s legacy will go down as just that; one of the greatest leaders this province has ever had.”
