The Latest: Harris campaigns in Wisconsin and Trump in Michigan in battle for ‘blue wall’ states

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Saskatchewan Party is promising more help for parents trying to keep their children in sports and the arts.

With a provincial election set for Oct. 28, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is pledging to double the Active Families Benefit to $300 per child per year.

The benefit for children with disabilities would also double to $400 a year.

It would apply to sports, arts, cultural and recreational activities.

The program is currently provided through a tax credit to families who make a household income of $60,000 or less.

Moe says he would expand that threshold, allowing families with a household income of up to $120,000 per year to receive the credit.

“We all know how beneficial it is to get our kids involved in sports or artistic activities, like music and dance lessons,” Moe said in a statement Thursday.

“We also know the cost of those activities has gone up just like the cost of most other things.”

The Saskatchewan Party has made affordability a key plank in its election platform. It has also promised more tuition relief for students who stay in Saskatchewan after they graduate.

On Tuesday, the first day of the campaign, Moe promised broad-based tax relief on personal income tax rates, which the party says could save a family of four $3,400 over four years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican antagonists, will join Democrat Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Wisconsin on Thursday aimed at reaching out to moderate voters and rattling the former president.

Cheney was the top Republican on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, earning Trump’s disdain and effectively exiling herself from her own party.

Cheney lost her Wyoming seat to a Trump-endorsed candidate two years ago and she endorsed Harris, the Democratic nominee, last month. The two women will appear together in a historic white schoolhouse in Ripon, where a series of meetings held in 1854 to oppose slavery’s expansion led to the birth of the Republican Party.

Harris is opening a two-day stay in Wisconsin and Michigan, and Trump will be in Michigan on Thursday as the two candidates grapple for wins in the “blue wall” battleground states, which also include Pennsylvania.

Harris’ visit to Wisconsin comes one day after a federal judge unsealed a 165-page court filing outlining prosecutors’ case against Trump for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstruction.

It’s uncommon, to say the least, for a candidate to give a nod to the origins of the opposing party in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign. Not only that, the Cheney name was once anathema to Democrats who deplored Dick Cheney, Liz’s father, for his role as vice president under George W. Bush.

But now both Cheneys are backing Harris, part of a cadre of current and former Republican officials who have broken with the vast majority of their party, which remains in Trump’s corner. Harris wants to portray her candidacy as a patriotic choice for independent and conservative voters who were disturbed by Trump’s unwillingness to cede power. Trump continues to deny his defeat with false claims of voter fraud.

Harris on Friday will hold a campaign rally in Flint, Michigan, continuing her tour of states that have been critical to Democratic victories. Trump won Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan in 2016, and Joe Biden won them in 2020.

Trump on Thursday will hold a rally in Saginaw County, a bellwether in the center of the state.

The Republican candidate has ramped up his focus on Michigan, holding two rallies there less than a week ago. In 2020, Biden’s win in Saginaw County by a slim 303 votes contributed to his victory in the state.

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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Saskatchewan’s New Democrats are criticizing the Saskatchewan Party’s health-care record as the provincial election campaign enters its third day.

The NDP says the emergency room at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital reached 350 per cent capacity on Tuesday night, a situation it blames on the Saskatchewan Party and its leader, Scott Moe.

Nurses are set to rally at noon today at the provincial legislature in Regina, with the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses saying the health system is beset by issues including ER overcrowding, hallway beds and staffing shortages.

NDP Leader Carla Beck is set to hold a media availability at the legislature shortly after.

Moe is scheduled to make an announcement in Prince Albert this morning before visiting small businesses and the local campaign office in Warman.

Election day is Oct. 28.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.