A day after the provincial NDP released their election platform, Scott Moe and the Sask. Party have done the same.
Key focus points include several pre-announced measures, such as reducing the average family of four’s income tax by $3400 over four years, creating a new Home Renovation Tax Credit, increasing the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit, doubling the Active Families Benefit, and giving diabetic seniors and people under 25 increased glucose monitoring coverage.
Moe says he also will increase the Graduate Retention Program by 20 per cent, which saves post-secondary grads up to $24,000, introduce a self-screening program for HPV and cervical cancer, assist families with the cost of fertility treatments, and freeze the small business tax at one per cent.
He added that his platform is fully costed and error free, something the NDP can’t say.
“They forgot to account for about $3 billion in that first attempt, so we helpfully pointed that out, and that’s what we do. So, yesterday, they released what is essentially a do-over of that costing document. So, this time, they got the revenue line and the expense line mixed up…That’s a pretty big error.”
He continued to poke alleged holes in their document.
“They inflated their revenue numbers by $200 million a year, there’s $800 million. they didn’t use the Ministry of Finance’s numbers, which I would suggest that one should use. They picked their own numbers, pie in the sky numbers, and put them in there. If we were to use NDP numbers in our platform, we would be balanced almost immediately.
The Sask. Party platform vows to balance the budget by 2027.
After reviewing Moe’s platform, the NDP retort that his tax credits are small, ignore the people who need them most, and take too long to come into effect. Th Opposition add that his plan does nothing to mitigate overrun Saskatchewan emergency rooms, recruit new physicians and healthcare workers, or reduce class size and complexity.