Sask. Party promises to increase grad retention dollars, NDP says Sask. losing people to other provinces
NDP says it will scrap Sask. Marshals Service, reinvest in RCMP, municipal police
On the second day of the official election campaign, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe promised to increase the graduate retention program to a maximum of $24,000, while NDP Leader Carla Beck focused on affordability and crime.
The graduate retention program allows tuition rebates for post-secondary graduates if they work and live in Saskatchewan after they finish school.
"Young people are facing cost-of-living pressures just like everyone else, so we will increase the benefit by 20 per cent to reflect those pressures and make life more affordable for young people working in Saskatchewan," Moe said Wednesday in Saskatoon.
Moe also announced a rebate for Class 1 truck driver training of $5,000. The driver will receive $1,000 annually for five years and must file income tax and work in Saskatchewan.
"We need our students. We need our young people to stay here in Saskatchewan. We need to first create more opportunities right here in our home province and we need young people to believe that those opportunities exist at home for them."
Moe claimed the NDP would scrap the graduate retention benefit if elected.
Following Moe's announcement, NDP candidate for Saskatoon Eastview Matt Love responded, saying the NDP would not cancel the program.
"That was an NDP idea, previous to the Sask. Party forming government. So they took our idea and ran with it. But it's absolutely not true, Carla Beck and the NDP would keep this program in place."
The disagreement over the genesis of the grad retention incentive is not limited to the campaign trail. In August, former Sask. Party premier Brad Wall and former NDP finance minister Andrew Thomson exchanged messages on social media claiming their parties created the program.
Hi Brad, as you know the NDP introduced the post-secondary graduate tax credit in 2000. 2007 was an enhanced credit. I’m glad you basically kept it. If you had also kept going with our policies on balanced budgets, debt reduction, and a 5% PST, that would have been even better.
—@Thomson416Love and the NDP also took aim at Saskatchewan's interprovincial migration numbers over the last several years.
"For the last six years, every quarter, more people have left this province than moved here and that's for one reason: his failures as a premier in this province," Love said.
Moe said a successful immigration policy will attract people to the province who may move out, but said interprovincial migration is only one measure. Moe also questioned the former NDP government's record on outmigration.
"What we see in Saskatchewan is the most robust immigration policy focused on economic immigration. Any successful immigration program is going to have a focus on economic immigration so we can build that stronger, brighter future," Moe said.
Beck campaigns in Prince Albert
After kicking off her campaign in Regina and making another stop in Saskatoon on Tuesday, NDP Leader Carla Beck was in Prince Albert on Wednesday.
Beck held a media conference flanked by the NDP candidates in Prince Albert.
Her comments were focused on affordability and reducing crime in the community.
"We are going to axe the marshals service, which has already cost Saskatchewan people $20 million without a single additional officer on the front line until 2026," Beck said, reiterating a previous promise.
Beck said the money from the scrapped marshals service would be re-invested in RCMP and other municipal police forces, including in Prince Albert.
Beck and Moe were asked about the cost of their platforms and both committed to releasing those during the campaign.
Moe called the NDP's spending promises thus far "reckless."
Beck countered by saying her platform will be "fully costed" and defended the NDP campaign promises, saying, "This province does not have a revenue problem; this province has a mismanagement problem under Scott Moe and the Sask. Party."