Saskatchewan NDP leader pledges to cut legislature and travel scouts

SASKATOON – A plan to reduce the number of members in Saskatchewan’s legislature would save the province millions and will be carried out if the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) gains power after April’s election, according to the party’s leader.

At a campaign stop in Saskatoon Friday morning, NDP Leader Cam Broten said scaling back the number of members of the legislative assembly (MLA) from 61 to 55 would save the province $5.5 million

“Every other province excluding the Maritimes has far greater number of constituents than what we have here in Saskatchewan per MLA, per politician,” said Broten.

“This would not be a huge increase in population for each constituency size, but it would be good savings, good savings that can be put into things that matter.”

Three additional MLA’s will enter the legislature after April’s election, as new constituencies were added for this cycle. Broten said he would reverse the move and eliminate three more positions.

A Saskatchewan Party official defended the addition Friday in an emailed statement, saying it’s a revenue neutral move that would be offset by a plan to reduce funding to MLA and party caucus expenses.

Broten hits Wall on “travel scouts”

The NDP leader also announced Friday that if elected he would end the use of “travel scouts” by the provincial government. Broten claimed two staffers have travelled ahead of provincial delegations to look over potential hotels and other amenities.

“I am not suggesting that a premier of the province shouldn’t travel internationally on Saskatchewan’s behalf, of course they should,” said Broten.

“But they shouldn’t be doing it with entitlement and perks that don’t match up with what a regular person would do.”

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In an email, a Saskatchewan Party spokesperson said other provinces, like Alberta and Manitoba, also send staffers “on advance missions.” The spokesperson singled out Ontario, who they said sometimes sends up to seven people.

Broten charged that the government officials were there to “compare luxury hotels, test menus and negotiate with hotel management,” according to a media release that accompanied the campaign stop.

“The types of information and research that these travel scouts were doing was the kind of stuff that you can learn when you show up a hotel and say, hey, where’s a good restaurant to go to,” said Broten to reporters.