REGINA - Affordability was the hot topic as the campaign in three Regina and area provincial byelections heated up on Monday.
At a media event in the Regina Coronation Park constituency, NDP leader Carla Beck took aim at the Sask Party’s record on the affordability issue. She called it the number one issue facing voters in the byelection.
Across-the-board, we’ve heard from people having a harder and harder time time making ends meet at the end of the month. And instead of listening to people and taking these concerns seriously, Scott Moe and the Sask Party have done the exact opposite. They’ve actually made life more expensive,” said Beck.
She pointed to the hike in Sask Power bills three times over the past year, and noted the average family in Saskatchewan was paying $1,608 more a year in PST, power, and phone bills, according to provincial government budget documents.
“And people ask what are we getting for all these extra Sask. Party taxes? Our healthcare is in crisis, our classrooms are bursting at the seams. Families are working harder and harder to make ends meet, but we continue to hear they are struggling just to get by.”
Beck was flanked by Regina Walsh Acres NDP candidate Jared Clarke and Regina Coronation Park NDP candidate Noor Burki. They were also joined by Alayne Dubord, a mother of two who made known her concerns about the cost of living.
“It doesn’t really seem like it’s getting any easier,” she said. Dubord said the biggest difference she had noticed was a jump in both her electricity and energy bill.
Prior to the NDP media event, the Sask Party fired off a statement of their own accusing the NDP of “using some selective numbers to suggest that the Saskatchewan Party government has increased the cost of living. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The Sask Party stated that “when all tax reductions and other tax savings measures are taken into account, the average Saskatchewan family pays significantly less to the provincial government now than when the NDP was in office.”
The statement also pointed to the government issuing the $500 Saskatchewan Affordability Tax Credit, and also took aim at the “Trudeau carbon tax, which is strongly supported by the NDP.”
When asked about that Sask Party statement, Beck pointed to the increases in fees and taxes and accused the Sask Party of bringing in the largest tax increase in the history of the province.
“The numbers are clear. For the average family in this province, $1,608 in increased costs… the other thing I will say to Scott Moe and this government is if you don’t believe my numbers, if you don’t believe the things that we are saying, I would invite him to get out on the doorstep and talk to people in these constituencies because consistently what we are hearing from people is they are falling further and further behind.”
The byelection is being held August 10 in Regina Walsh Acres, Regina Coronation Park and Lumsden-Morse. Voting starts in advanced polls on August 3.
