Economy, crime, schools and health: Top issues in Saskatchewan election campaign

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Tim Walz and JD Vance will face off on the debate stage tonight in a matchup that both parties are hoping will demonstrate their vice-presidential candidate’s ability to connect with voters in battleground states that will play a critical role in deciding November’s election.

“They will both be trying to connect with those key Midwestern voters, that’s part of why each one of them was chosen,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont.

“Thinking about especially male voters in those key Midwestern swing states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.”

Those states swung Republican when former president Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and in 2020 they helped put President Joe Biden in the White House.

Walz, the 60-year-old Democratic governor of Minnesota, has embraced his folksy, plain-spoken demeanour since he joined the ticket earlier this summer. He’s leaned into his Midwestern roots and the title “coach Walz” from his former football coach days.

The strategy has seen him garner high favourability in polls but he will be facing a formidable opponent in Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio.

The 40-year-old has become a mainstay on cable news shows since he was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate in July.

Formerly a Trump critic, Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 after becoming one of the former president’s loudest supporters.

Before entering the political sphere, Vance rose to fame with the 2016 publication of his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

The Republican campaign released a video ahead of the debate to show Vance’s “hillbilly energy.” In the video, which features photos from his childhood, Vance talked about jobs disappearing from communities and the sense of hopelessness that left behind.

Both men are expected to play on their working-class narratives during the debate to give credibility to their party’s plans for the economy and inflation.

Political experts have said Vice-President Kamala Harris dominated the presidential debate last month by prodding Trump into tirades that strayed far from his intended goals of focusing on immigration and the economy.

Aaron Kall, the director of debate for the University of Michigan, said it’s unlikely Vance will fall for the same strategy, and he expects Tuesday night’s debate will lean more into policy.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be barbs.

Walz was given credit for coining the label “weird” to describe his Republican opponents and the attack has stuck to Vance, with numerous viral videos and memes targeting the senator’s past comments and encounters with voters.

“They really couldn’t be more diametrically opposed, kind of like Harris and Trump,” Kall said.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of fireworks, given their personalities.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

British Columbia’s Green Party has released an election platform that’s heavy on taxing the wealthy to support people’s wellness, while the provincial Conservatives have unveiled a plan for making B.C. energy-independent.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau says her party’s 72-page platform, which includes doubling existing property tax rates and adding a new two-per-cent tax on homes over $3 million, is aimed at creating “an economy that serves the people” instead of “delivering harm.”

The platform is the first to be released by a major party for the fall provincial election and includes an 18 per cent proposed tax for corporate profits over $1 billion, while there would be investments of $650 million annually in “municipal infrastructure to support new housing” and $250 million to expand child care.

Meanwhile, B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad says his party will reverse course on provincial policies on vehicle electrification and heat pumps under the New Democrats.

Rustad says those policies are “pushing B.C.’s energy system to the brink,” adding that a Conservative government would look at building the infrastructure needed to support B.C.’s electricity demands, including conducting a feasibility study on nuclear power.

In Castlegar today, NDP Leader David Eby pledged a re-elected New Democrat government would cover the travel costs for cancer treatments and extend employment protections for people with serious illnesses from eight days to 27 weeks.

Eby told a campaign event in the southeast B.C. city that rural residents face “unique challenges” accessing health care, and bolstering travel assistance would allow them to be reimbursed for mileage if they can’t get a flight to access treatment.

The New Democrats say in a statement that changes to the province’s travel assistance program would allow people to receive “up-front payments.”

Rustad said during an announcement in Brackendale outside of Squamish that the NDP’s energy mandates on vehicle electrification and heat pumps are “pie-in-the-sky.”

The Conservative leader also says his party will support alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal, but only when the projects “make practical, economic sense.”

Furstenau says she wanted her party platform to “lead by example” in getting away from the back-and-forth politics she says is demonstrated by the NDP and the Conservatives.

She says the Green platform is aimed at presenting a “vision” to take B.C. forward, and urged everyone to “all start voting for what we want” instead of compromising their expectations on an elected government.

As part of the second week of the election campaign, all three major party leaders are expected to come face-to-face for multiple events on Wednesday.

They will debate live in the morning on Vancouver radio station CKNW, followed by an event hosted by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

– With files from Darryl Greer in Castlegar

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

REGINA – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe kicked off the provincial election Tuesday, promising broad-based tax relief to help residents battle the rising cost of living.

Moe told cheering supporters in Saskatoon that, if re-elected on Oct. 28, his government would launch a four-year plan to reduce personal income tax rates across the board.

He said given those rates are already adjusted for inflation, a family of four is set to save more than $3,400 over four years.

“It’s the largest income tax reduction since 2008,” Moe said to cheers and shouts of “well done!”

Carla Beck’s Opposition NDP, in the run up to the campaign, promised to suspend the 15-cents-a-litre gas tax for six months and scrap the provincial sales tax from children’s clothes and ready-to-eat grocery items, while not raising other taxes.

She has said the gas tax suspension would save families $350 over six months.

Moe ridiculed those changes as narrow and capricious.

“(Our plan) is significantly more than any temporary gas tax reduction that the NDP (is promising),” Moe said.

“It’s not temporary. It will remain in place, saving each and every Saskatchewan person money each and every year.”

Moe also promised a fully costed platform would be coming in the days ahead and challenged the NDP to explain how it would pay for its promises.

Beck was to launch her campaign later Tuesday in Regina.

Earlier in the day, Moe met with Lt.-Gov. Russ Mirasty to dissolve the house and issue writs directing the election.

The four-week campaign is expected to focus on the cost of living, the economy, health care and education.

Moe, who took over as premier in 2018, is seeking his second mandate in the top job.

He is expected to rally support around his government’s record on growing the economy, creating jobs and increasing the population.

Moe, representing Rosthern-Shellbrook, has also said his government’s decision to not pay the federal carbon levy on home heating has saved people money.

Beck has been the NDP’s legislature member for Regina Lakeview since 2016 and is running for the first time as the party’s leader.

Recent polls suggest a tight race between the two parties, but the breakdown on constituencies means an uphill fight for the NDP.

Polls indicate the New Democrats are stronger in the cities and the Saskatchewan Party is dominant in the rural areas. To win a majority in the 61-seat legislature, the NDP would need to sweep the 28 seats in the three largest cities – Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert – and hope for help elsewhere.

Moe has warned voters that an NDP government under Beck would return Saskatchewan to the days of hospital and school closures, people leaving for other provinces and a stagnant economy.

The NDP last governed in Saskatchewan from 1991 to 2007. It made cuts after the former Progressive Conservative government nearly bankrupted the province.

Moe took over as leader of the Saskatchewan Party in 2018 after former premier Brad Wall retired. Moe won his first mandate in the 2020 election during the COVID-19 pandemic and has feuded with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals over the carbon levy and natural resource policies.

His pre-election budget forecasted a $354-million deficit with more spending on education and health care.

Beck has said Moe mismanaged the province’s finances while failing to appropriately fund health care and education.

She has also pointed to recent problems in the Saskatchewan Party caucus — including criminal charges, retirements and rebuffs — that reduced it from 48 to 42 members at dissolution. Sixteen of those members are not running again, including eight who served in Moe’s cabinet over the last four years.

The NDP had 14 members at dissolution. There were four Independents and one vacancy.

Recent Saskatchewan Party caucus turmoil has seen members turning on one another.

In the spring, Speaker Randy Weekes accused the governing caucus of bullying. He accused Jeremy Harrison, the trade and export development minister, of taking a gun into the legislature in 2016.

Moe backed Harrison, who denied the incident but later admitted to it. Harrison was removed as government house leader but kept his cabinet position.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.