Sask. Party platform includes new tax cuts, construction

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Surrounded by dozens of Saskatchewan Party candidates from Saskatoon ridings and a sea of green-clad volunteers, Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe said the platform his party is running on in this election cycle “goes far beyond a four-week campaign, and it goes far beyond a four-year political cycle.”

“Our plan for this province is a long-term plan.”

On Saturday morning, Moe unveiled new details of the Sask. Party’s platform in advance of the Oct. 28 provincial election.

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He said the total cost of the platform would be $1.2 billion over five years, and would balance the budget in 2027.

Approximately three quarters of these costs are tax cuts, including a reduction to the personal income tax, increases to the low-income tax credit, disability tax credit, caregiver tax credit and the graduate retention program, and rebates or credits for fertility treatment, driver training, first-time homebuyers and home renovations.

“We realize that, today, Saskatchewan families and individuals are feeling the pressures of increased cost of living and expenses,” Moe said. “That’s why we have a plan to make Saskatchewan even more affordable for homeowners, for families, for seniors, for students and to make Saskatchewan more affordable for everyone that lives here.

“We’re helping you buy your first home. We’re helping you renovate the home that you own, covering the cost of life-changing diabetes monitoring technology. We’re helping families with the cost of your kids’ sporting and cultural activities. We’re helping young entrepreneurs and small businesses; increasing the graduate retention program so that more young people will be able to stay right here at home.”

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By the 2028-29 fiscal year, the Sask. Party’s plan would offer approximately $310 million in tax reductions, and projects a $195.5 million surplus.

The Sask. Party says it is basing these estimates on Ministry of Finance data, including a projected 3.8 per cent annual increase in provincial revenue and a 2.8 per cent annual increase in expenses included in the ministry’s medium-term fiscal outlook.

Moe also called the Saskatchewan NDP’s platform, which promises three years of deficits ending in a modest surplus, no tax hikes, and new spending focused on health care and education “costly” and “irresponsible,” and said the party was “pulling numbers out of the sky … on the revenue side.”

“Our value proposition in front of the people of Saskatchewan is one that is responsible,” Moe said. “It’s one that is focused on them paying less tax and keeping money in their pockets and in their family’s pockets, as opposed to increasing government spending.”

Roy Styles, former CEO and president of SaskTel and now a Saskatchewan NDP senior advisor, said both parties drew on the same information to build and cost their platforms.

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The primary difference, Styles said, is that while the Sask. Party based their calculations on the ministry of finance’s medium-term fiscal outlook and the 2024-25 first quarter report, the Sask. NDP also included the government’s audited financial statements from the 2023-24 fiscal year.

“Revenues (in 2023-24) ended up being $600 million higher than was projected in the 2024-25 budget documents,” Styles explained. “Tax revenues in Saskatchewan were much higher than they projected (as were) own-source revenues, including government business enterprises.”

Moe also said, if the Sask. NDP were elected, projects like renovations to St. Paul’s Hospital and the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital as well as the urgent care centre being built in Saskatoon, which the Sask. Party promises to complete, would be at risk of cancellation.

In response, Sask. NDP finance critic Trent Wotherspoon said that claim was “nonsense.”

“He knows that we’ve been clear about this; those are commitments we, of course, would honour,” said Wotherspoon.

When asked what he thought would be the greatest challenge facing whichever party forms the provincial government after election day, Moe’s focus turned federal:

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“However many months the Trudeau government has left in Ottawa,” he responded.

Though Moe pointed to areas like childcare and bail reform where “in fairness … we have been able to work with the federal government,” he considers other current federal policies to be a non-starter in Saskatchewan.

“While we make the effort to make life more affordable here, we know there is one thing that is driving up the cost for everything and for everyone, and that is the NDP-Trudeau carbon tax,” he said.

“(And) when the (Saskatchewan NDP) say they don’t support that NDP-Trudeau carbon tax, don’t believe them for a minute. NDP MLAs and candidates in this province are on record voicing their full support.”

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