NDP pledges to bring back STC if elected

The NDP wants to bring back government-operated bus travel across the province.

During a media conference Monday in Regina, NDP Leader Ryan Meili promised — if his party is elected on Oct. 26 — to bring back the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC), which was sold in 2017.

He called an interprovincial bus line “essential infrastructure.”

“Connecting communities helps businesses to grow, helps farmers to do their work and helps people to get to their appointments,” he said during the media conference in front of the former STC bus terminal.

But Meili would not say how much a revival of the STC might cost, nor how an NDP government would pay for it.

Instead, he criticized the Saskatchewan Party’s economic policy.

“We need to talk about investments. The path that Scott Moe would take us down, the path of austerity, that has been shown both here and around the world to choke the economy,” he said.

Meili also said a Sask. Party government would cut services and sell Crown corporations.

In an email, the Sask. Party responded.

“Today, Ryan Meili and the NDP completely abandoned their ‘People First’ message and shifted to the same tired old NDP scare tactics in a desperate attempt to save their failing campaign and divert from the $4 billion hole in their election platform,” it said.

“Scott Moe has been clear: Taxes will not be raised, Crowns will not be privatized, and we will continue to make key investments in essential services and Crown utilities,” it continued.

In the Sask. Party’s Monday campaign stop, Moe visited the Battlefords. The Sask. Party leader reiterated some of his platform points he believes would help out small business, like a temporary reduction in power bills and a new home renovation tax credit.