Brad Wall says Sask. still has pull with federal government

Despite the new federal government being on the other side of the political spectrum from the Sask. Party, leader Brad Wall says Saskatchewan still has influence.

As premier, Wall has touted his good relationship with the former Conservative federal government and what they got done.

Although the Saskatchewan government hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with the new Liberal federal government since October, Wall believes he’s had sway.

Wall pointed to the Trudeau government’s early plan to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015. The federal government soon amended that to give themselves more time.

“(Trudeau) listened to our position in Saskatchewan,” said Wall on Tuesday. “He listened to my position, my request was that we welcome refugees as we always have done in the country, but that we not move to a deadline and a quota. And they made that change.”

Wall also mentioned the meeting he went to just before the writ was dropped for the election. Media reports before the meeting suggested that the federal government was set on creating a national carbon tax, but Wall came out firmly against that idea.

“We were able to get some support from territories and other provinces, and what came out of that meeting was a commitment not to have a national carbon tax.”

Wall said they’re also dealing with the federal government as the election is on. On Tuesday, the federal budget revealed an expansion to employment insurance (EI) for those suffering in the energy sector, but that didn’t include most of Saskatchewan’s oil patch.

In his continuing capacity as premier, Wall said he’s sending the current employment minister to meet with his federal counterpart when she’s in Saskatoon this week, to lay out the case for including the parts of the oil patch which were left out of the changes to EI.

At the campaign stop in Regina, Wall talked about the Sask. Party’s record in promoting Saskatchewan in the world and defending its interests, and that they’re the best choice to do that.

“I think Saskatchewan has a prominent role on the national stage today, and we’d like the chance to continue that,” said Wall.