READYING FOR BATTLE
Meili and Moe prepare for resumption of provincial legislature on Monday
Saskatchewan’s legislature shut down on a sombre note almost three months ago.
When the lights went dim on March 18, no one knew how hard COVID -19 would hit the province. The virus focused debate in the last few days of question period.
Theatrics seemed to fade away, at least in the chamber itself, as politicians sensed the gravity of the moment.
It’s an open question whether that tone can survive as MLAS head back to work Monday. It’s almost election season, after all, and Saskatchewan’s two major party leaders have just 14 days to debate face-to-face in the last sitting before the campaign is expected to begin this fall.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a calm and quiet session,” said Jim Farney, head of the University of Regina’s politics and international studies department. “There’s not the same existential dread.”
But the stakes are still high, in Farney’s view. He called the sitting, which runs until July 3, a “campaign warm-up.” Recent polls show the Saskatchewan Party well ahead in voter intentions, and NDP Leader Ryan Meili doesn’t have much time left to make an impression on voters.
Meili sees the upcoming session as “a preview to what the two parties will be talking about going into the election.” His message centres on investing in home care, child care, health care and a wide range of other services right away to help the economy recover from what looks like a steep recession.
He’s also coming with a warning about the government’s post-election plans. According to Meili, the Monday budget that will kick off the sitting will be a smokescreen for austerity in 2021 and beyond. The government will play nice one last time, he believes, before stripping public services bare.
“There will be cuts. There will be sell-offs of Crowns,” he said. “This is their only response, and if they’re given another chance to govern, it will be austerity on steroids.”
But Finance Minister Donna Harpauer brushed aside that warning as Opposition scare tactics.
“We know that they fear monger,” she said, adding that in its budget, the government is sticking close to March spending estimates, which included record investments in mental health and education.
Harpauer’s budget would usually be the highlight of the sitting, but probably won’t contain any surprises this time around. Harpauer said it’s “not likely” to add any big-ticket items that haven’t already been announced. Instead, she’s opting for stability, certainty and predictability.
“I don’t think that we necessarily have to do something that is just an eye-catcher,” Harpauer explained. “I think we just need to be very steady and very forthright on what our intentions are, and how we’re going to move the province forward with the people.”
The budget is sure to include a deficit, and Farney thinks that will create a conundrum for the government. He said he’ll be watching to see how the Saskatchewan Party shifts from messaging built around a balanced budget to an admission that government needs to borrow on a massive scale.
A stale budget could also put the government in a tight spot, in Farney’s view, making it hard to pivot and distract from NDP attacks. Meili said he sees unanswered questions about the government’s early response to the pandemic, which he believes left health officials scrambling to come up with a plan.
Farney also sees education, the impact of COVID -19 on public services and race relations as possible flash points.
“They won’t want to just let the NDP kind of try to do the death of a thousand cuts about things they’ve done wrong,” Farney said of the government. “And they won’t want to let the NDP focus on racism.”
Meili hinted that he does plan to press the government on racism, as he expands his questioning beyond the budget and health issues. “Race relations around the world is a huge issue right now,” Meili said, and he believes Moe has a weak spot on the file.
“He has a habit of saying the wrong things or resisting saying what needs to be said until he’s kind of forced to eat his vegetables,” Meili argued.
One key issue could be police oversight, which has come up at Black Lives Matter protests. Meili said he’d be willing to work with the government to expedite legislation to bring in a civilian oversight body.
Moe said this week that his government is actively looking at options and sees a need to move on police oversight “in the very near future.” But he did not provide a date.
Government House Leader Jeremy Harrison said both parties will be able to introduce legislation this sitting as per normal rules and procedures, despite the tight timeline.
There are already about a dozen bills left on the order paper from before the house adjourned in March, covering everything from fisheries to lobbyists and conflict of interest for MLAS. Harrison said the government intends to pass them by the end of the sitting and is working with the Opposition to facilitate that.
Meili said he’s coming with serious questions for serious times. His overarching aim is to highlight the differences in “philosophies” between his party and Moe’s, especially when times get tough.
“Who are they?” Meili asked. “They’re a group of free market ideologues that believe that the state is a problem and they’ll take any excuse, any crisis, to reduce the support that people get through government, because they don’t really believe in government.”
But Harpauer said she doesn’t
This is their only response, and if they’re given another chance to govern, it will be austerity on steroids.
believe “slashing and cutting services” is the way to spur economic recovery. She signalled that her government will aim to reassure the public through a steady-asshe-goes approach to public finances.
“I want the public to have confidence that we’re going to manage the economy coming out of this, that Saskatchewan is still strong, and together, we are going to rebuild this economy, we’re going to recover what was lost, and we’re going to rebuild further,” she said.
“We will get back to balance. We will do it slowly and methodically, in the same manner that we’ve managed the pandemic.”