REGINA - The Sask United Party is promising cuts to the gas tax and PST, more private health care options, and a potash royalty review as part of their platform released Wednesday.
The platform, called Blueprint for Change, was announced by party leader Jon Hromek at a news conference at the Hotel Saskatchewan Wednesday. Hromek was joined at the announcement by 14 candidates running for the party in the 2024 provincial election.
Hromek said that the Blueprint for Change was "centred around the priorities of bringing affordable and a better quality of life to every family in Saskatchewan."
“With the rising cost of living weighing heavily on families, it is our elected officials' duty to step forward with solutions that directly ease the burden on their wallets and provide real support where it's needed most.”
Here are highlights of the policies outlined by Hromek from that platform:
Sask United is pledging to go a step further than what the NDP is proposing by calling for the elimination of the provincial gas tax. The party also wants to cut the provincial sales tax in half to three per cent, and provide a 65 per cent discount on property taxes for seniors living in their primary residences. Hromek said cutting the gas tax will save the average family will save $600 per year at the pumps. Cutting the PST to three per cent would save the average family in Saskatchewan $1,400 per year.
On resource revenues, Sask United is proposing a full royalty framework review on potash to ensure Saskatchewan people “are receiving fair and equitable value for the world-class resource that the people of Saskatchewan own.”
“Our resources need to follow the same royalty framework as our neighbours in Alberta, and give the people of Saskatchewan the benefits they rightfully deserve,” Hromek said, pointing out “there is a reason why Alberta does not have a PST.”
On health care, Sask United is proposing a Saskatchewan Integrated Healthcare System, which would “harness the innovation, efficiency and expertise of the private sector to build out our healthcare infrastructure.”
“Non-government private clinics could have the ability to build facilities and provide services to meet the demands of local communities while remaining fully publicly funded through government contracts,” Hromek said. “By allowing choice and competition in the delivery of healthcare services while retaining universal access for all, we will ensure that every citizen has access to world-class medical care that they deserve.”
The Sask United platform also is pledging to open up more medical school seats and residence spots and to implement a targeted recruitment strategy. The party is proposing a program similar to the Royal Military College Officer Program where students and new healthcare professionals will have their education paid for in exchange for a commitment to serve in Saskatchewan for a specified period of time.
In education, Sask United will “recognize the vital role that parents play in the education and well- being of their children,” Hromek said.
“We firmly believe it is essential that political bias and ideology are excluded from the education curriculum in Saskatchewan. Children should be equipped with the necessary skills to succeed in today's highly competitive global world, emphasizing core subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, and an accurate representation of history. We would remove ideology in the education curriculum, ensuring schools are places of learning, not forums for activism and indoctrination.”
Sask United also states it will implement standardized testing to address the current low rankings of our children in reading, writing, science and mathematics compared to the rest of Canada.
The Sask United platform is also calling for the introduction of legislation where with “every new regulation, two must be removed,” said Hromek.
“We need a Saskatchewan where decision making is streamlined, where red tape is drastically cut, and where every dollar is utilized efficiently.”
Sask United is also making it clear they support law and order. Hromek said a Sask United government is “committee to putting criminals behind bars and ensuring that proper consequences are enforced. It is not enough to catch and release offenders. We must ensure that justices serve and that those who break the law face the full weight of its penalties.
Sask Party no longer the party of Brad Wall, says Hromek
Hromek said his party was dedicated to bringing good common sense government to Saskatchewan, adding that the Saskatchewan Party was “no longer the Saskatchewan Party of Brad Wall.”
“Scott Moe and the Sask Party would like to make you think that this election is about the Saskatchewan NDP and Justin Trudeau. In reality, this election is 100 per cent about the Sask Party government and their record.”
Hromek pointed to crime at an all time high, healthcare wait times, and declining educational outcomes. He also pointed to out-of-control spending as well as high taxes and failing services.
“As I've been saying since the by-election, Saskatchewan doesn't have a money problem. It has a management problem. If these issues could be fixed with more money, they would have been fixed a long time ago… These issues are not new. Those who broke the system can't be relied on to fix it. New leadership is needed in Saskatchewan.”
During the question and answer session with reporters that followed, Hromek was grilled on how his party’s policies would work. He defended the party’s plans for more private sector involvement in health care.
“Really, at the end of the day, what we're targeting is to open it up to the private sector, such that they can come in and deliver services,” Hromek said. He later added “we're talking about a universal system that is more closely aligned with, say, Europe or the Scandinavian countries, where the government is still the underwriter. I'm not talking about private insurance whatsoever on this.”
Hromek was also grilled on his plans on potash royalties. It was suggested potash companies wouldn’t like his plan for a royalty review.
“Oh, I guarantee they won't be in love with the plan. 100 per cent,” said Hromek.
“But at the end of the day, Potash is a very rare commodity. There's only three jurisdictions that have it that are in it globally to the extent Saskatchewan does. Saskatchewan's number one. Number two is Belarus. Number three is Russia. Belarus, it's nationalized. And Russia, unless you're paying in gold bars, you're going to have problems doing some business there.”
He described Saskatchewan as being in a “very strategic position with respect to the Potash business” and wanted to ensure the people of Saskatchewan were getting their fair share.
“There's going to be pushback but sometimes that's just why we need to elect leaders that have the stomach to be able to put the people of Saskatchewan first because currently that's just not taking place.”
Right now the Sask United Party holds one seat, Nadine Wilson in Saskatchewan Rivers. There are currently 23 candidates nominated to run and Hromek, who is running in Lumsden-Morse, said he is hoping his party can get to 35 candidates running.
As for how many seats they could win, Hromek said “our target is to win, you know, two seats plus. Of course, we want to win as many as we can.”
“But at the same time, you know, we need to get some people elected that have some management expertise and some management, you know, some push to basically hold the government to account. You have the NDP, they've been in opposition for 17 years, and yet frankly the Sask Party has been able to run roughshod for 17 years on just about everything. So that's why, you know, we need an opposition on the right to come in and be looking at it from a different perspective.”
