Article content
The Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix will also be livestreaming the event, available to watch online at leaderpost.com and thestarphoenix.com.
Scott Moe of the Saskatchewan Party will be facing off against Carla Beck of the Saskatchewan NDP, with Merelda Fiddler from the communications faculty at the First Nations University of Canada to moderate.
Asking questions of both leaders will be Leader-Post/StarPhoenix political columnist Murray Mandryk, CBC’s Adam Hunter, CTV’s Allison Bamford and Global TV’s Brenden Purdy.
In the first two weeks of the official election period, both leaders have hit the road with vigour and some heavy campaigning.
Moe has pledged a slate of increased tax relief measures by way of benefits, credits and eligibility expansions under various existing programs, an increase to the threshold for personal income tax, and to continue opposing the carbon pricing program implemented by the federal government in 2018.
Beck is promoting a fiscal plan with some cuts, no tax hikes and a balanced budget by 2028, $1.1 billion more invested into health care, a pause on the provincial gas tax for six months, and scrapping provincial sales tax on select items.
Article content
A total of seven parties are running candidates for 2024, including the Sask. Party and NDP. Also in the race are the Saskatchewan United Party, the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan, the Progressive Conservative Party, the Saskatchewan Green Party and the Saskatchewan Progress Party.
The only parties to hold seats in the previous sitting of the legislature were the Sask. Party and NDP, who claimed 48 and 13 seats respectively in 2020. Four MLAs resigned from the Sask. Party caucus amid controversies to sit as independents by the time the 29th legislature was dissolved for this provincial election in October.
Elections Saskatchewan says a total of 243 candidates across 61 constituencies filed their nomination papers with the agency’s returning office in their constituencies prior to Saturday’s registration deadline. According to Elections Saskatchewan, that’s up from 236 candidates in the 2020 provincial election, but less than the record 268 candidates in the 2016 vote.
Chief Electoral Officer Michael Boda said in a news release after the deadline passed that roughly one million ballots were to be printed over the Thanksgiving weekend, and then delivered to the 61 constituency returning offices before voting week begins Oct. 22.
— with files from The Canadian Press
The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.
Share this article in your social network
