The spring session has begun in the Saskatchewan legislature, and the official opposition has set their agenda for the coming term. Making a Yorkton stop at The News Review, Provincial NDP leader Cam Broten recently spoke on the priorities for his party.
The priority for the NDP is Saskatchewan families, he says, and he feels that there has been a disconnect between the economic success of the province and the benefits seen by local families.
"It can't simply be about the province doing well, but it has to be about people in Saskatchewan doing well and people getting ahead."
The result of that is the NDP will be focused on three areas in the coming session. Health care is a primary focus, especially in terms of senior care in the province. Education will be the second focus for the party, and the third focus will be dealing with an increased cost of living faced by people of the province.
One specific issue Broten has is a proposed idea to increase education property taxes in order to deal with infrastructure in the province. He believes that such an increase would be a mistake, especially as people are already feeling increases in other aspects of their lives.
Broten also believes accountability will be a major issue going forward. He says that the government has a dismissive attitude towards the provincial auditor.
"I have concerns about the transparency, openness and honesty when it comes to this government reporting the finances. That will be a big focus coming in the spring."
While the NDP has a small number of seats, Broten believes that so long as they can react to the needs of the province they will be relevant in the legislature.
"It's not simply about me asking a question or my colleagues, what we're doing is voicing the concerns we hear from Saskatchewan people. I'll use the example of senior's care. Some of the most effective days we've had in the assembly and in question period raising concerns is when families come and share their stories."
Broten admits that they have not made as much progress as they would like on their three areas of focus, but their job is to continue to hold the government to account and try to raise the issues they've identified as key for the province.
"We've been consistent and focused in the things we have been talking about and we will continue to have that approach. My hope is that the government will start to listen. They tend to have a little bit of a pattern here, where they will pretend to listen to what people are saying on any number of topics, but people get the sense that their agenda is already determined."
While the budget is the biggest issue in the province during the spring session, Broten says that they will have specific ideas related to the budget closer to the announcement of the budget itself. Overall, he says their focus will be on their priorities of education, health and cost of living.
