All five Saskatchewan Party leadership candidates gathered at Tobin Lake at a supper organized by the local Carrot River Valley constituency association.
The supper at the Shorebird Inn Oct. 12 allowed the candidates to chat to party members in an intimate manner and talk about their campaigns in a collegial, non-confrontational manner before the party’s all-candidates debates began.
Ken Cheveldayoff
First to speak was Ken Cheveldayoff. The Saskatoon Willowgrove MLA sold himself as somebody with rural roots – having grown up in Blaine Lake – but could also win in the cities – being one of the first Saskatchewan Party members to be elected in Saskatoon, in 2003. He recalled one of the events that got him interested in politics as a child.
“John Diefenbaker was our Member of Parliament and he’d come in and fly by helicopter into our schoolyard. I’d be the first kid out there to shake his hand and then I’d go to the back of the line and shake his hand again because I was so thrilled to meet Mr. Diefenbaker.”
The leadership candidate told the audience that one of his goals was to create a plan to ready the province for another 10 years of growth. He said he opposed the carbon tax, saying that he’d rather spend what would go towards taxes on innovative approaches instead. He said he’d give SaskTel a mandate to increase rural internet speeds to at least 25 Mbps – a 225 per cent increase from present speeds – using a combination of existing SaskTel capital dollars and new money.
More locally, Cheveldayoff said when he was in Carrot River earlier that day, he heard loud and clear that improvements were needed on Highway #55 between Nipawin and The Pas, Man., so he contacted Ron Schuler, Manitoba’s infrastructure minister, that day.
“I think it’s important to make it a viable route for commerce between Saskatchewan and Manitoba.”
Alanna Koch
Alanna Koch, who’s currently taking a leave of absence as the head of the province’s civil service to run for the leadership, emphasized her breadth and depth of experience, having served on corporate boards, within the civil service, as the deputy chief of staff to Grant Devine; worked on political campaigns for more than 30 years; having traveled on trade missions with Premier Brad Wall; and being elected as a school board trustee; and as a farmer.
“I’ve lived my whole life in Saskatchewan. My husband and I made the choice right out of school that this was where we were going to stay to build our lives and build our business and farm and raise our family,” she said. “For me, this is the next step to be able to make a difference.”
Koch said she’d stand up for the province’s interests, opposing the carbon tax, proposed changes to federal corporate tax rules, and the lack of construction of new pipelines to export the province’s energy wealth.
The leadership candidate said her core policy principles focused on free market solutions, creating a competitive business climate, fiscal responsibility, taking care of the most venerable and basing decisions off of scientific evidence.
For Koch, how she’d govern is as important as what she’d do. She wants to see clear performance measures for government ministries, the strongest conflict of interest rules in the country, improved access to senior leadership through regional caucuses, reduce duplication in the bureaucracy, ensure that people aren’t hurt by restraint measures.
Gordon Wyant
Gordon Wyant, the MLA for Saskatoon Northwest, worked at a gas station as a teen to save up for his first motorbike, something that he bought without telling his parents. Now, repairing vehicles is a hobby for the former lawyer, school trustee and Saskatoon city councillor.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our province, our party, is a big tent and it’s my sense that the flaps of that tent aren’t quite as open as they once were,” he said. “My vision – and why I want to be the Premier of Saskatchewan – is to ensure that those tent flaps are wide open, a place where all fiscal conservatives and socially conscious people can gather, a place for all non-socialists.”
Wyant said the policies that he will bring forward will be guided by what he calls the five Ts: talent, technology, trade, tolerance and transparency. He said he wants to encourage innovation and new industries through new growth tax incentives, encourage the relocation of industries into Saskatchewan, and encourage a retreat from relying on cyclical commodities like oil and potash by promoting diversification.
The leadership candidate said he also opposes the carbon tax and the proposed changes to federal corporate tax rules, as well as challenge what he said is an unfair equalization formula that penalizes the province – in court if necessary.
He reminded the audience of Saskatchewan Party members to not forget what brought the party together in the first place: a commitment to live within the province’s means while balancing that with the need to care for the most vulnerable.
Scott Moe
Scott Moe, the MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook, said the leadership race was a time for his party to reflect on the vision on which it was created 20 years ago, the leadership of Brad Wall, what’s been achieved since they became government.
“I don’t think that any one person can fill Brad Wall’s shoes,” he said. “But as a team we can keep building on his legacy of unparalleled economic growth and prosperity in Saskatchewan. That’s why our team of 22 MLAs and support across the province have made a commitment: that we will always stand with Saskatchewan.”
The MLAs that have endorsed him include Fred Bradshaw, Kevin Phillips, Hugh Nerlien and Nadine Wilson.
Moe said his policies will follow three major themes.
The first is to balance the provincial budget by 2019 – and to do so without shocking the economy and affecting front line services. There are some parts of the last budget he would revisit, like reinstating the PST exemption on crop, health and life insurance, funding that by delaying an upcoming 0.5 per cent corporate income tax reduction.
The second is protecting the province’s interests by opposing the federal carbon tax and supporting the expansion of the province’s exports. One of the ways he’d do that is encourage more value-added agricultural processing within the province.
Finally, there’s strengthening the province’s communities and families. One of the policies recently announced is a review of the province’s landfill regulations. Communities like Nipawin and Melfort are experiencing extra costs to ensure that they meet the demands of current legislation.
Tina Beaudry-Mellor
Tina Beaudry-Mellor, the MLA for Regina University, said she started to take notice of the Saskatchewan Party because as a professor at the University of Regina, she was writing reference letters to her best and brightest students for positions out of the province.
That interest was reinforced when she heard that former MLA Ken Krawetz wrote a handwritten reply to a letter sent by her parents, showing her the party was different.
That tradition of listening led Beaudry-Mellor to make a decision in her campaign.
“I was the very first candidate in this race to act on the PST exemption on insurance. The reason that I did that was because I had made several trips to farms around the province, one of them here in Gronlid, where I sat on a combine and visited with a family,” she said, adding they did the math and found they’d have to pay an extra $20,000.
As well, she said, the proposed federal corporate tax changes have changed the situation for farmers, something they couldn’t have predicted in the last provincial budget.
Beaudry-Mellor said the province needs a long-term, three pillar vision to ensure the province continues to punch above its weight. The first is smart social investment, with desired outcomes defined and financial literacy added to the K to 12 curriculum. The second is becoming an economic powerhouse by leveraging the province’s talent, resources and non-New Democrat government unlike B.C. and Alberta. The final pillar is focusing on government performance: expecting results and running the government like a corporation.
