In a wide-ranging question and answer period with local media on Monday, Saskatchewan's New Democratic Party leader Dwain Lingenfelter delivered a number of messages that he intends to take out onto the campaign trail later this year.
Lingenfelter was in Estevan for a social gathering with local supporters and Estevan Constituency NDP candidate Blair Schoenfeld. He appeared to be in full campaign mode as he dealt with a variety of subjects, staking out some campaign territory prior to the Nov. 7 vote.
Besides the promise that an NDP government would begin the twinning of Highway 39, Lingenfelter said his party would also introduce legislation for rent controls with a holiday period for those constructing new multi-dwelling units.
"People are being seriously gouged by some rental companies," he said.
Lingenfelter said a government he led would also take steps toward raising royalty rates on potash production and only on potash, stating that he felt the rates currently being paid by the oil, natural gas and uranium industries are fair and equitable. That is not the case with potash, he declared, noting that the provincial percentage gleaned from potash sales amounts to just a nickel on every dollar. He said he felt a more equitable rate would be 30 per cent which would still leave potash mining companies with profits in the billions of dollars. He said a hike in potash royalties would not scare them away since there would be a built-in safety net that would adjust the royalty rate downward in the event global prices for the product took a serious dip over an extended period.
"The royalty rates for potash in this province are a mess," Lingenfelter said. "Sure there might be some gnashing of teeth in Chicago if the rate went up a bit, but they're business people, I'm a business person, we know they won't disappear or be frightened off. They pay much more in resource royalties in other places around the world, they won't leave Saskatchewan, not when we have 50 per cent of the world's supply right here. I'm not here to get hugs from Bill Doyle (CEO of PotashCorp of Sask.) like Mr. Wall is. Mr. Doyle is an American who does a great job, maybe they'll donate to another party, but it's business here.
"There are also huge healthcare issues and horror stories out there about waiting lists and physician shortages that you're well aware of in this city," Lingenfelter said.
"There are also huge debates on management styles in the health regions and the overburden of management costs. It's tough when you have shortages on the front lines yet the management gets bigger and richer. We need fewer $400,000 CEOs and head offices and other managers. I begin to wonder what all these management people are doing?" Lingenfelter said there needed to be some accounting done regarding the value received for the money being spent on health care.
"When the front liners are held to 1.5 per cent increases and the CEOs get 60 per cent, that causes friction and angst. People begin to wonder where their fair share is in this booming economy."
The NDP leader said there is probably a need for some discussion about how the flood waters were controlled, or not controlled, this spring and summer. He said he didn't realize that SaskWater's management of the situation had come under scrutiny by local residents and businesses, but if there were questions to be asked, they needed to be answered and it was incumbent on the current government to decipher what was done and what needed to be done. He said one thing was certain, and that was the local volunteer efforts were outstanding and he trusted that the provincial disaster assistance program funds would roll out more effectively for local citizens than it had for the victims of floods in Maple Creek and Yorkton last year.
Spot loss hail insurance was another peg in the NDP platform, he said and as far as the debate over the Canadian Wheat Board was concerned, Lingenfelter, who farms himself, said he was convinced that this was an issue the farmers needed to decide themselves.
"It's not for Ottawa or Regina politicians to decide. Whether the CWB stays or goes, let the farmers decide. The federal government does not have the mandate to make that decision."
So taken in totality, the NDP leader said "the NDP has a story to tell that is different. We're looking out for those with frozen wages, or those whose wages are tied to the minimum wage that hasn't gone up in two years. When the poorest of the poor have frozen wages or $1 over minimum, what can they do? When teachers and IBEW are told to settle at two per cent while their government counterparts get 40 per cent, and health care CEOs get 60 per cent, and the head guy at PotashCorp gets 159 per cent, we start to ask the questions. I love campaigning and these are just a few of the things we'll be talking about as we go," Lingenfelter said in conclusion before joining a group of about two-dozen people who had gathered to meet him and Schoenfeld at a local coffee party.
