A Saskatchewan Party leadership candidate visited the Northeast, selling himself as somebody who can win in both rural and urban parts of the province.
“What people are looking for is leadership. They want somebody that can win in rural Saskatchewan and somebody that can win in urban Saskatchewan,” said Ken Cheveldayoff, the MLA for Saskatoon Willowgrove. “I believe that’s the strength of my campaign that separates me from anybody else.”
Cheveldayoff was raised in Blaine Lake but he was one of the first Sask. Party members to win a seat in Saskatoon in 2003, which heavily supported the New Democrats back then.
The leadership candidate held meet and greets with Sask. Party members and supporters Sept. 15 in Melfort and Nipawin.
“[The Northeast is] an important part of the province. There’s so much of the economy that happens in the province that comes from this area,” he said. “I wanted to hear from the people who will be making the decision about the next premier of the province and they are the people that I’m meeting with today.”
As for what Cheveldayoff would do for the Northeast if he won the leadership race and became premier, he said one of the reasons he was travelling in the area was to get stock of the issues. He does want to create a 10-year-plan to help grow the province’s economy, something that would include the region.
“That would be looking at the strengths of this area, which I believe to be forestry and agriculture and manufacturing, and ensure that this area continues to thrive in the next 10 years.”
As a key pillar of that plan, Cheveldayoff wants to have a tax review panel with a 60-day consultation period. The candidate said he believes there could be better ways to gather revenues without doing things like adding PST to insurance premiums.
“I think there’s a better way to do it than we did it in the last budget and that’s what I’m going to be working towards, having experts to tell us where we can put the fairest taxes in place and ensure we’re not being unfair to some areas of the economy.”
If the panel recommended a harmonized sales tax, which would reduce the amount of paperwork small businesses have to fill out but would surrender power to how sales tax is charged to the federal government, Cheveldayoff said that would be something he’d have to examine, but he’s been told by the experts he talked to that harmonization wouldn’t be the largest priority for reform.
Cheveldayoff also told party members that he opposed a federal carbon tax and a $15/hour minimum wage. When asked about selling off crown corporations, he said it was the wrong time to be in sales negotiations, adding the province should find some way to strengthen their services.
