Opposition leader Nicole Sarauer points to a number of positives from the fall legislative session for the New Democrats.
Sarauer, who has been serving as the interim leader while the party goes through its leadership race between Ryan Meili and Trent Wotherspoon, outlines the inroads the party has made in her conference call with reporters.
“We had an opportunity to hold the Saskatchewan Party to account for a lot of their mismanagement and scandal and waste,” said Sarauer. She pointed to the GTH and the Regina bypass in particular.
She also said the party had been able to “push for positive change” both legislatively and also in other areas.
Sarauer’s conference call came after another news-filled week in Saskatchewan politics, as Premier Brad Wall waded into a trade fight with Alberta over provincial license plates.
The Wall government banned Alberta license plates on all Saskatchewan work sites, in retaliation to what they claimed were protectionist measures by the NDP government there.
“It was yet another decision by this government that looks like they’re shooting first and aiming later,” said Sarauer.
“We need to ensure that we are protecting Saskatchewan workers, but the New West Partnership is incredibly important to our province.”
She said the Sask Party “can’t provide proof of what is happening in Alberta and hasn’t thought about the consequences this could have on Saskatchewan workers in Alberta.”
“We need to see a government that isn’t so focused on chasing headlines,” said Sarauer, “but is instead ensuring that they are pushing forward policies that has been thought through, first of all, and second of all will protect Saskatchewan workers.”
As for this last session, Sarauer pointed to “the growing list of scandals we’ve seen from the Sask Party government” as the most important issue taking place in the legislature.
In particular she pointed to the GTH scandal. “More concerns are raised about how a very few Sask Party insiders could have made millions of dollars, while at the same time we saw a budget that made serious cuts to many programs that Saskatchewan people rely on.”
While the GTH issue has continued to be the main focus the NDP opposition has also highlighted other issues during question period, such as education minister Bronwyn Eyre’s comments in the legislature on treaty education that got her in trouble.
The opposition “had some successes in getting some positive change,” Sarauer believes. “We focused on the diversity of the strength we have in our caucus, and I think that showed in particular holding minister Eyre to account for her comments in her response to the Throne Speech.”
She also pointed to Carla Beck’s role holding the Ag Minister to account when pushing for funding to help those affected by the wildfires not too long ago.
“After some push by Carla in Question Period the government agreed to provide up to $100,000 in matched funding”, she said. Later, the government agreed to expand the PDAP disaster relief funding as well for that.
Sarauer also notes that having more MLAs helped quite a bit.
“It’s always nice to have more people on your side,” said Sarauer.
She particularly pointed to the work of Vicki Mowat, MLA for Saskatoon Fairview, since joining the caucus. “She hit the ground running, she did an incredible job,” said Sarauer.
Now with the legislative session off, both the NDP and the Saskatchewan Party will concentrate on their respective leadership races. Both will have new leaders in place in time for the resumption of the session on March 12; in the Sask Party’s case, their new leader will be the new Premier.
Sarauer called her own role as interim leader a “very wild experience” and “more than I ever expected it will be.” As for the new permanent leader, that leader will need to “hit the ground sprinting because it is a very important time for this province,” said Sarauer.
“There’s really no time for relaxing after a leadership race. We’ll be right back into the house a week after we choose a permanent leader, but I’m confident we’ll be ready.”
