What the Sask. Party's win could mean for you
Emily Rae Pasiuk | CBC News | Posted: October 29, 2024 10:00 AM | Last Updated: October 29
A look at campaign promises the party made
Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party is projected to win a fifth-straight majority government, something that hasn't been achieved since Tommy Douglas' run that began in the '40s.
But what does this mean for your life in Saskatchewan?
Here are some of the promises Moe and his party made in the run-up to the election.
Change room restrictions
Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe said earlier this month that his "first order of business" if re-elected would be to establish a policy restricting students' use of change rooms in the province's schools to their sex assigned at birth.
In making the announcement in Regina, Moe said "there will be a directive that would come from the minister of education that would say that biological boys will not be in the change room with biological girls."
Terms like "biological boys" and "biological girls" can be used to imply that transgender people are still their assigned sex at birth, despite their identity.
Advocates have said the policy would put vulnerable kids at risk.
Affordability
The Saskatchewan Party ran on several tax promises. It has said it would double the active families benefit — which reimburses parents for the cost of their children taking part in sports, arts and cultural activities — to $300 from $150 per year per child.
It promised to raise the personal income tax exemption, spousal exemption, child exemption and the seniors supplement by $500 each year for the next four years.
- Watch more Sask. election coverage, including full news conferences, on CBC Saskatchewan's YouTube page.
The party also announced it would introduce a permanent Saskatchewan Home Renovation Tax Credit and increase the Saskatchewan First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit to $15,000 from $10,000. It would also increase the income exemption limit under the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability program by $1,000.
Saskatchewanians wouldn't see these benefits until tax time.
The party also announced it will not proceed with a planned increase to the small business tax rate, which was set to rise to two per cent from one per cent on July 1, 2025. It said the rate would stay at one per cent.
Health care
Both rural and urban hospitals in the province continue to struggle with staffing pressures.
Promises of better access to health care from the Saskatchewan Party boil down to things it has said it's already doing. The party has touted the new urgent care centre in Regina, opened in June, as a success. A similar urgent care centre in Saskatoon is set to be completed by spring 2026.
New health-care facilities are currently under construction in Weyburn and Prince Albert.
The Sask. Party also rolled out a $300-million health human resources action plan that it said has resulted in the recruitment of 253 physicians from outside Saskatchewan, the hiring of more than 1,400 recent nursing graduates and the introduction of 400 internationally educated nurses from the Philippines.
Former health minister Everett Hindley has said the province's efforts to recruit — and crucially, retain — health-care professionals will alleviate wait times. The Sask. Party government has also formed a nursing task force on the issue.
As for the party's plan on the addiction and mental health front, it remains steadfast in its recovery-oriented systems of care. The party halted programs providing clean pipes, changed rules around needle exchanges, and committed to creating 500 new addiction treatment spaces.
Money-wise, it has committed $40.2 million over two years for 155 new supportive housing spaces in Regina and Saskatoon, 120 new permanent emergency shelter spaces and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces.
It has also announced 77 new supportive housing beds and 75 emergency shelter beds.
Child care
Promises on child care from the Sask. Party revolve around creating new regulated early-learning child-care spaces.
It has committed to creating 28,000 of those spots by 2026. As of June 30, 2024, the province had created 11,790, of which 6,041 were operational.
Some planned new schools are set to house some of those spaces: 180 at the joint-use elementary in Regina's Towns neighbourhood, 90 at the Saskatoon City Centre School and 74 at the Harbour Landing joint-use elementary school in Regina.
Policing and crime
The Saskatchewan Party's rural crime strategy includes having its marshals service up and running by 2026. The 70-officer force is to focus on detecting, disrupting and deterring criminal activity in rural and remote areas, and is projected to cost around $20 million annually.
Scott Moe has also said he would imbue police with additional authority to address vandalism, intoxication, and other disturbances on public property.