Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck takes stock of 2024, looks forward to 2025

As the last hours of 2024 drain away and 2025 rushing closer and closer, many people take the time to take stock of the year that was, and plan for the year to come.

Senior reporter Lisa Schick sat down with Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck in her office to take a look together.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Lisa: For 2024, what would you call your wins for the year?

Beck: One of the main wins would be doubling our seats in the legislature, running a campaign that I think we all feel very proud of, a campaign that was focused on the concerns that Saskatchewan people continue to tell us — and continue to tell us to this day — are most important to them. And bringing in a whole new group of MLAs who have really hit the ground running in this legislative session. All of that I think I would consider wins and feel pretty lucky and grateful for.

Lisa: Is there anything that happened, a conversation that you had, during the election that really stands out to you?

Beck: One that I think of quite a lot, we were out door-knocking in the eastern part of Regina, and there was a minivan that pulled by us and then whipped around and obviously was coming to talk to us, and you never quite know how those conversations are going to go.

This gentleman marched right over to us, and he said, ‘I’ve seen how hard your team is working. I see how much you’re fighting for the people of this province.’

This man told me his wife was a teacher and was already exhausted and before he left — he was quite emotional, he had tears in his eyes — he said to us, ‘please just keep going.’ And those are words that I heard a number of times.

When you’re on the campaign trail and you’re you’re getting a bit tired, those are words that I think fuelled all of us: ‘just keep going.’ A sense that we were fighting for things that Saskatchewan people told us they wanted us to fight for. And I still hear those words when we’re in the legislature, and when we continue to push for solutions.

Lisa: Hindsight being 20-20, what is a loss that you experienced last year?

Beck: At the start of the campaign, I said that we were in it to win it, we weren’t in it for second place. On election night I did express disappointment. We came incredibly close, perhaps closer than a lot of people would have thought possible. But we really did want to form government this time, so I consider that not quite getting to the goal.

Lisa: On election night that room was so excited but you were disappointed. Can you take me back to that?

Beck: On election night, and certainly in the days going up to the election, we had momentum on our side. We were hearing very positive things from the doorstep, from the candidates, from our volunteers, and we knew that it was going to be close.

I think that night, I was thinking of a number of MLAs who weren’t successful, who I know had worked incredibly hard, who would have made it incredible, and I still think would make incredible MLAs to represent their constituencies.

I think we can be incredibly proud of the work that we did, while still being disappointed that we didn’t quite get there again.

Lisa: Some of the things you’ve brought up in this fall sitting are things that we have heard before: the PST on groceries, suspending the gas tax. And government has been very clear it won’t support them. So why keep bringing them up?

Beck: There is an urgency that people tell us they’re facing when it comes to the cost of living, especially at Christmas. People were struggling before this month just to put food on the table or buy their medication, that urgency is is still there.

Our commitment has always been that we are going to focus on the things that Saskatchewan people tell us are most important to them. We are going to fight and continue to fight against odds.

The government always has a choice to vote with us or vote against us. At some point, I hope they understand the urgency and the struggle that Saskatchewan people are facing and do what other provinces have already done, something like suspending the gas tax.

Lisa: What are your hopes for 2025?

Beck: I hope that we can continue, with this great group of 27 MLAs, to hit every corner of the province. It’s something that we’ve really had as a goal over the last number of years. But with 27 of us it’s just that much easier to to dig in and get out to to communities right across the province.

If we had success — and we did have considerable amount of success in this last campaign — I attribute a lot of that to the quality of the MLAs that we have, how hard that we’ve worked but, most importantly, the willingness to get out of this building and to get out and meet people where they’re at.

I’m looking forward to that, and have really enjoyed that over the last number of years.

Lisa: What about fears or concerns for the coming year?

Beck: I don’t sit a lot with fear. Going into rooms sometimes that may not be friendly, if you look for divisions you will find them, I think that’s true of any place.

But if you go out looking to find that common ground and common values, you can find that in every corner of this province. There’s courage in going into places where you maybe don’t know how people have voted, or what they think on certain issues. But if you respect people, you’re willing to listen to them, you stick around and hear from them, it’s really quite easy to find common ground and it’s been an absolute pleasure to do that over the last few years.

Lisa: Is there anything happening in the next 12 months that you’re really looking forward to?

Beck: Session is coming up in the spring, the budget as well. You know, I was here in 2017 after an election, I sincerely hope for the people of Saskatchewan that we don’t see another budget like we saw after that election.

I’m excited to to see the work of these new MLAs, who have really hit the ground running and often forget that they’re brand new in this legislature, the way that they are taking on their roles.

They’re poised in the house, but also outside of this legislature, meeting with people, bringing forth voices, and having people who already trust and are looking to them to bring their concerns forward. I’m really looking forward to see what they get up to because I think Saskatchewan people, when they get to see them at work, will be impressed and see this team as a government in waiting.

Lisa: Does it create more opportunities, having twice as many MLAs?

Beck: It really does. When I was first elected in 2016 there were 10 of us and three of us who were brand new. We pretty quickly rolled into that 2017 budget, which really was devastating on so many fronts. We were holding five critic portfolios or more each to be able to divide up the work.

Now, to be able to divide up the work with the team that really has such a wealth of experience already outside of politics. One of my biggest issues on any given day is being able to give them all enough work to dig into because they’re hungry, they are driven.

Lisa: You guys had a lot of momentum during the election, you came through with a lot of success, but how do you keep that momentum going?

Beck: What I attribute a lot of our success to is a team that is incredibly focused, incredibly hard-working, in it for the right reasons, people who want to give back.

Getting outside of the legislature and meeting with people where they’re at, finding common ground, listening to them about not only where the challenges are, but where the solutions lie. And people in this province are incredibly good at being solution-focused.

That’s how we’ve achieved the success that we have, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.

Lisa: Do you have any checks to make sure you’re not sliding back into things the NDP was doing that weren’t so successful?

Beck: You know, I think the most important thing for all of us to understand again is that when we focus on the things that are most important to Saskatchewan people and maintain that connection to Saskatchewan people, we have more success.

Any politician on any side of the legislature will tell you that it’s easy to think everything that happens in this legislature is what’s most important. When you get outside of the legislature and you connect with people, you realize that your view in the legislature doesn’t see everything that’s going on out there, that you really have to have that connection — whether that’s on the front lines in health care, or what’s going on with regard to people’s finances, or in classrooms — the real experts are outside of this legislature.

I think that focus is important, and everyone on our team shares that focus.