Premier Scott Moe reflects on 2024 and looks ahead to 2025

With the calendar about to turn over to 2025, it’s only natural to take stock of the year that was and the hopes for the year that will be.

Senior reporter Lisa Schick sat down with Premier Scott Moe in his cabinet office for an end-of-year chat.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Lisa: First of all, give me your impression of what this year was like for you because it seems like it had a lot of ups and downs.

Moe: Yeah, it’s an election year, so there’s a whole discussion in the lead-up to the election that is very public and intensifies on many fronts. And then you have the election campaign, which is a busy time for all of those involved, all the candidates, the parties. And then you have the result. We were very fortunate to have the support of the majority of Saskatchewan people and have the opportunity to form a majority government for a fifth time, of which we’re very, very thankful.

Re-elected Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speaks to media, following his party winning a majority government in the provincial election, in Shellbrook, Sask. on Tuesday, October 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards

Yes, there was support for our platform, but there was a vote for change as well – change in policy direction, change in focus, and a change in how we’re approaching achieving the outcomes when it comes to healthcare delivery, and educational outcomes, and the general safety and security in the communities where we live.

I think you saw a shift in the focus of the government from election night to the introduction of the Speech from the Throne. And I would say, also a change in the tone of delivery and approach as we found our way through this post-election abbreviated session.

You had already been trying to get health care workers here, you had already been looking to put more police officers in place – so is it change, or is it doubling down on what you were already doing?

Moe: I would say, focusing on specifics that we heard in the lead-up to the campaign, throughout the campaign and post-campaign, from Saskatchewan people.

You’re seeing a very specific commitment in the Speech from the Throne to ensure that we get to a place where everyone has access to a primary health-care provider. You didn’t hear that specific of a commitment prior to the election campaign. Four hundred and fifty thousand surgeries to be delivered over the next four years, that’s going to take investment. It’s going to take measuring those outcomes, and it’s going to take utilizing all of the surgical capacity that we have.

In education, ensuring that we are focusing our efforts alongside the school divisions, our teachers, on behalf of parents in, for example, that K-3 space, so that our outcomes at the Grade Three level are as strong as they can possibly be, and that sets our students up for success in grades four through 12 and throughout life.

When you have an election in a year, does that make the year seem longer?

Moe: It’s a little bit of a blur. You can really divide it into three points with the fulcrum being election night and the results on election night.

The lead-up to the election: if you’re a government and opposition, you’re taking some significant positions on whatever the issues might be. We had conversations with respect to class complexity, always conversations with respect to health care, and many with respect to affordability for Saskatchewan and Canadian families. And community safety is also very much a topic for people.

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe speaks at the party campaign kickoff in Regina on Sept. 29, 2020. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME file photo)

Then you have the actual campaign itself, where all of those topics really intensify on the doorsteps of families and people in communities right across this province. You have candidates from all stripes on the doors, listening, and a very personal conversation happening.

And then election night happens, and you find yourself either on the Government or Opposition side.

You have many ministers in cabinet now who are newer and one new MLA. Does that make things more difficult? Does that put more work on the veterans?

Moe: Yeah, there is a stepping up, but there is a lot of capability and opportunity for people that are serving in the governing caucus today.

We’re approaching this 30th session, like we maybe did in 2007 as a new administration, and really taking the shackles off and providing a new lens. Every cabinet portfolio has a new set of eyes and a new individual who is engaging on the work with stakeholders and Saskatchewan people.

Premier Scott Moe said on social media his new government will also deliver change, in addition to promises already made on the economy.  (@PremierScottMoe/Twitter)

I very dearly will miss some friends, but there is an opportunity for some in cabinet to take on a larger role, and for some that weren’t serving in cabinet and some new members they have the opportunity to serve and bring that new, renewed perspective.

As this fall sitting started one of the most heartfelt and sharp criticisms that you got was from an NDP member in the Assembly. He felt that you owe his kids an apology for what they dealt with during the election around the transgender change rooms issue.

Moe: He’s a parent, and, as a parent myself, I feel his words. But I will not discuss people. I was asked a question by yourself at a news conference that we had, I commented on the policy, as I think any leader should. But I will not comment on people, and I don’t think the media should be commenting on individuals, in particular, family members or individuals that don’t have their name on a ballot, or minors.

He also said he felt an apology was owed to all the trans people in this province for making them feel they were in danger or targeted. What do you say to that?

Moe: That’s his opinion. What I feel is owed to the people, parents and families of Saskatchewan is to ensure that all 27 school divisions have a policy in place that is supportive of each and every child, in each and every classroom, in each and every school, in each and every community across this province. And that’s the work that the Education Minister is doing as we speak.

What does that mean? Because I can’t really nail down whether that means there will be a policy in place or not.

Moe: I think what that means is you’re seeing a government that is engaging with school divisions to ensure that there are policies in place that are supportive of all of the kids, not supportive of any one child over another.

And so that work is in place, and it’s some tenuous work. I mean, there’s 27 different school divisions, and it doesn’t mean all of the policies will be precisely uniform, but it does mean that all the policies will be supportive of children. I think that’s important. I think that’s what teachers want, school division representatives, and most importantly, that’s what parents want as well.

Looking ahead to the next year, what are your goals for 2025?

Moe: Our goals over the course of the year were largely laid out precisely in the Speech from the Throne. They are a little bit different than our campaign, but they’re most certainly goals we heard from Saskatchewan families – how to use the Saskatchewan economy to invest in the services that Saskatchewan people are telling us they expect.

Beyond that, we have a challenging time ahead of us when it comes to the conversation with our largest trading partner in the incoming Trump administration, which has the most significant mandate in recent history between the presidency and Senate. And when you compare and contrast that with the voice that we have coming from Canada on our behalf, there is no such mandate.

We are beyond the four-year norm that I think most Canadians would expect any government to serve. We are in a minority federal government position as well, and I would say that the right thing to do now is to offer Canadians the opportunity to choose who’s going to not only negotiate with the incoming Trump administration but who’s going to be setting the policy over the course of the next four years. [The last federal election was held in September 2021, just over three years ago.]

Whoever is representing Canada with the Trump administration, they’re going to have Saskatchewan’s support to the level that we can with one unified Canadian approach. We’re going to engage alongside the federal government, we’ll engage alongside other premiers through the Council of the Federation table, but we’ll also engage using the contacts we’ve acquired and the relationships that we’ve built over the last number of years as the Province of Saskatchewan.

I imagine you’ll be keeping a pretty close eye on the tariff conversation as we get to January 20th.

Moe: This is a very crucial conversation for us in this province and for Canadians. Fifty-five per cent of what we produce finds its way to the U.S. — largely oil, potash and agricultural products, but 80 per cent of what we import comes from the U.S. as well.

It’s our most significant trading partner, our most significant ally, and when I talk about providing food and energy security for North Americans, we do that alongside Americans. There are products that cross the border and value is added on each side of that border. We produce that food, energy and manufacturing security with the Americans, and then we provide that, not only to ourselves as North Americans, but we provide it to over 160 countries around the world.

So, the talk of tariffs is entirely problematic for the wealth and health of Saskatchewan industries, communities and families, and we need to find our way through this conversation.

We’ll have the provincial budget in March. Is there any sense of being gun-shy of budgets these days, given the last few have seen huge swings by the end of the year.

Moe: I would say there’s some nervousness. As we find our way into that space, we’re seeing some global unrest and a global realignment of supply chains. And most recently, now we’re seeing some significant talk of tariffs coming out of the United States of America. All of that has an impact on a province that is the highest per capita exporting area of Canada, and that’s Saskatchewan.

In 2007, we exported $17 billion worth of product. The last two years running we were about $50 billion, so we’re adding value to that product. We’re adding countries where we are exporting that high-value product to, but in the midst of very fractured global relations, realigned supply chains, and now a discussion with the incoming Trump administration on the potential for tariffs – that is going to create a significant amount of uncertainty in what we do in this province.