Moe defends election decision amid coronavirus pandemic
Premier Scott Moe said the evolving COVID-19 pandemic means “this is not the time” for a spring election, though he didn’t close the door to a summer or fall vote before the set date in October.
“Why we’re not considering it now is because we are in the midst of a global pandemic that is affecting our province and our community, so we most certainly are going to be at our post,” he said on Friday in his first public remarks since ruling out a spring campaign.
“I was contemplating it,” said the premier. “I’m not now.”
Rumours about a spring election have overshadowed the sitting of the Legislative Assembly since it began early this month.
Moe declined to put an end to the chatter with a clear statement about his intentions, until Thursday.
“I will not be calling a provincial election this spring,” he said in a written statement that morning.
But Moe’s statement omitted any mention of summer or fall. On Friday, he did not rule out the possibility that the election could come before the Oct. 26 set election date.
“I don’t know that something would precipitate us to go earlier than that, but we are planning for Oct. 26,” Moe told reporters.
He added that the government still intends on that date.
Moe said he made the decision to come out clearly against a spring election on Wednesday evening, and only learned about the province’s first presumptive case of COVID -19 afterwards.
He danced around questions from reporters about his intentions Wednesday morning, minutes after the World Health Organization declared the disease a pandemic. On Friday, he said a final decision had simply not been made at that time.
“I was attempting to be as factual as I could, but as soon as we had ruled it out, I very quickly stated that we were not considering a spring election,” said Moe. “Once the decision to be made was made, I was entirely forthright.”
COVID -19 is interfering with the politics, in more ways than one, in Saskatchewan and in Ottawa.
The House of Commons is not meeting for five weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moe said such a move has been discussed on the provincial level, though a decision was reached to keep the Legislative Assembly sitting.
“I feel that we’re the captains of the ship in many cases, so we feel we need to be at the post,” Moe said.
But the government is taking a number of measures to ensure that the Saskatchewan legislative building does not become a hot spot for COVID -19 transmission.
That includes closing the building to tours, public events and all visitors effective Friday at 5 p.m., as well as radically recasting the budget announcement on
March 18.
Crowds usually fill the legislative rotunda before and after the budget is read.
Moe announced on Friday that only politicians, staff and journalists will be attending this year.