Minimum wage, COVID-19: Moe, Meili answer questions one week from election day

With the provincial election just a week away, the leaders of both major Saskatchewan parties are gearing up for the home stretch.

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe and Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili both spoke on Gormley on Monday and answered questions from callers.

Moe said the main thing voters are worried about this election is who they will trust to recover the economy post-COVID-19.

“We are already in the process of reopening our economy here in Saskatchewan. We have the lowest unemployment rate in the nation and we have opened our economy as quickly as anywhere else,” Moe said.

Meili said there’s a clear choice facing Saskatchewan voters in the 2020 election.

“They’ve got a Sask. Party government — old and tired, out of ideas and planning to go down the road of austerity. That’s their own words. We know what that means — cuts, privatization — that slows down our economy and hurts people. Right now, in a middle of a pandemic, we need a different approach,” Meili said.

Moe said the Saskatchewan Party plans on adding more than $800 million in funding over the next four years.

“(We’re) ensuring we are putting forward plans and putting forward policies that are allowing for the swift economic recovery in our communities and across the province,” Moe said.

But Meili claims the Sask. Party will be making cuts no matter what it says on the campaign trail.

“We know what the Sask. Party does; we saw it back in 2016. They promised no cuts (and) no privatization. Instead, within a year, we saw the selloff of STC, we saw them try to sell off SaskTel and try to sell off SGI and they cut deep — $54 million out of our classrooms,” Meili said.

“We know who they are. You can’t trust Scott Moe when he says the cuts aren’t coming. They say one thing before the election but if we are to re-elect Scott Moe and the Sask. Party, that’s when the pain will come and it will be much worse than what we saw in 2017.”

Meili said the NDP wants to invest and has put forward a plan with more than $2.7 billion in investments to things like health care and education.

SaskPower employees

Moe was asked by a caller about the SaskPower employees who went on strike for a raise. The caller said the workers got zero per cent over two years because there was no money but yet the Sask. Party is promising a SaskPower rebate.

“The rebate that we are providing is coming from the government and would be a transfer to the Saskatchewan Power Corporation to ensure the Saskatchewan Power Corporation remains whole,” Moe said.

He said the bargaining process was a tough time for many.

“We are thankful that we could come to an agreement. We always say the best agreements do come at the bargaining table,” Moe said.

He said the rebate will help increase the affordability for families and help foster the economic recovery of the province.

$15 minimum wage

The NDP has made it clear it wants to increase the minimum wage in the province and one caller wanted Meili to speak about it.

Meili said the current minimum wage is hurting people in the province.

“We see people saying thanks and even the premier saying thanks to those workers in restaurants, in grocery stores, in pharmacies that have stepped up on the front line and then we see an (hourly minimum wage) increase of 13 cents. That’s no thanks at all,” Meili said.

He said increasing the minimum wage will help businesses in the province because more people will have disposable income.

He also said his government would help businesses with the increased wages.

“We recognize we’re in a challenging moment right now and we want to make sure that every Saskatchewan business is able to keep the doors open. That’s why we’ve committed to a direct rebate of a portion of that increased wage for those small Saskatchewan businesses to ensure they are able to manage that increase,” Meili said.

Help for small businesses during COVID-19

One texter brought up concerns over the government’s response to COVID-19 and towards helping small businesses during this time.

Moe said the $5,000 small business grant was to help provide businesses with support to allow them to reopen.

“This has gone as well as I think it could in the province,” Moe said. “We have been able to reopen as quickly as anywhere else in the nation. That is due to what the people have done in slowing the spread of COVID-19.”

Moe said there are better ways than locking down the economy to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Health-care wait times

Another caller brought up the long wait times he faced when the NDP was in government in the early 2000s. He asked Meili how he can say he will change the long wait times people are facing with their past record.

Meili brought up an event he attended in a wheat field near Regina with a woman who had been waiting for surgery for two years.

“It looked like a pretty nice crop of wheat but it wasn’t the surgical centre that (then-Premier) Brad Wall promised in 2012 and since that time, we’ve seen wait times continue to climb,” Meili said. “This has gotten worse and worse. The Sask. Party isn’t even trying.”