Saskatchewan Party leader Scott Moe and Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck went head-to-head Wednesday night in the only provincial leaders’ debate before the Oct. 28 election.
After the parties’ platforms were presented, Moe and Beck took questions from a panel of journalists related to topics such as health care, affordability and education.
Health Care
Discussion quickly got heated between the leaders as health care was the first topic of the evening.
“Our health care system is broken,” Beck said. “Scott Moe and the Sask. Party broke it. They can’t be trusted to fix it. We hear heartbreaking stories every day about people in this province not able to get the care that they need. We see people dying on waitlists before they get the care that they need. We’ve got a plan.”
Moe said the challenges people are seeing in Saskatchewan are happening across Canada.
“This is a party that will provide more doctors, more nurses, more training spaces, more hospitals, but also acknowledge we have more work to do,” Moe said.
“1800 nurses have been hired in the last 18 months… The surgical wait time in Saskatchewan are actually lower than it was in 2007, despite 250,000 additional people living here today.”
Affordability
Next, the debate moved towards affordability as people battle with rising costs of living across the province.
The NDP said they will cut the fuel tax on day one, and remove PST on children’s clothing and groceries by Christmas if elected.
While it will take four years to balance the budget, Beck said the investments are desperately needed.
“(Affordability) is the number one issue we hear on the doorstep,” Beck said. “The reality is, Scott Moe has done nothing before tonight to offer any affordability relief. In fact, he made things worse. He raised taxes 31 times in one year.”
Moe pointed to cutting the Carbon Tax on home heating and lowering the interest rate because of it. He also outlined how his party would be reducing income taxes for those in Saskatchewan and making life more affordable for students , seniors, families and homeowners.
“Saskatchewan families are feeling the cost-of-living pressures that are there,” Moe said. “That is why you have seen us come forward with a platform that is largely focused on affordability.”
He said the Carbon Tax is the largest inflationary pressure Saskatchewan and Canadian families are facing.
Moe also took aim at the federal government during the carbon tax discussion.
“Let’s have a federal election,” Moe said. “Let’s have a Carbon Tax election in this nation.”
Education
Another big topic of discussion in this debate was education.
Moe said with the increased Saskatchewan population, more and more children need schools to learn in.
“That’s why you have seen a Saskatchewan Party since 2007 increase our education budget by 53 per cent. That includes 9 per cent this past year. Really an unprecedented increase while our student population has increased by about 18 per cent.
“We are addressing classroom size by building new schools 28 in progress as we speak.”
Beck wasn’t a big fan of Moe’s answer.
“Scott Moe just told us he thinks that classroom size has to deal with the physical size of the classroom,” Beck said in response. “It has to do with the number of teachers we have teaching in the system. And the reality is, there are 15,000 additional students and one additional teacher.
“We have a plan to invest $2 Billion into our kids classrooms and hire more education workers.”
A look to election day
As for who won the debate, it is all up for interpretation. Moe and Beck both took questions from reporters after the debate Wednesday night.
“I would say if there is a winner tonight, it would be Saskatchewan people because they have a better opportunity to understand the platforms the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP are putting forward,” Moe said on the debate.
“We are both just trying to get our platforms out there. People might view it as head-to-head. Moe versus Beck. I don’t view it that way.”
Beck said she felt the debate went well and was able to spread a positive message that change is possible.
“This is about delivering for the people of Saskatchewan no matter where they live,” Beck said. “Saskatchewan people will have the choice.”
The election is set for Oct. 28.