On the eve of the provincial election campaign season, Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck was rallying the troops in Saskatoon.
When Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck goes door-knocking, she often hears from people who say they have never voted for her party before — some of whom are “very willing to share where they’ve been frustrated” with the party over their lifetimes.
But with the provincial election hurtling around the corner, Beck says one common theme she’s been hearing on the doorstep has her feeling optimistic:
“It’s the values,” she said on Sunday in Saskatoon, with the writ drop looming and election day weeks away.
“They might look a little bit different in the city than they do in rural areas, but those are still the top issues.”
And, she says, there is plenty of political frustration to go around in Saskatchewan right now.
“One of the stories I’ve heard — this came out of Moose Jaw — was that (Cheantelle Fisher), one of our candidates, went up to the door,” Beck recounted.
“This gentleman had been waiting for her, and he said, ‘I know who you are; you’re a candidate here. I want you to see this.’ And he ripped up his Sask. Party card right in front of her.”
Since 2020, Beck says she has become more worried about “polarized, divisive politics” in Saskatchewan and around the world, with more efforts to score “cheap political points” and less of the “sense of shared purpose” between all representatives.
“There’s a role for government. There’s a role for opposition,” she said. “Both of those roles are important in our democracy. But people are better served when you have politicians and leaders who are focused on finding solutions regardless of where they come from.”
No matter how — or if — people have voted in the past, Beck points out, everybody needs to see a doctor sometimes, or has a relative in a nursing home, or knows somebody with kids in school, or has been tracking the rising prices at the grocery store every week.
“People in this province deserve better than what we have now, (and) they’ve been discouraged,” she said. “But we have an incredible story to tell in this province.
“This is a province full of hardworking people; people who care about their neighbours; people who not only know what the problems are but desperately want to be part of the solution. And there are solutions to be found.”
“People have been sounding the alarm for years,” she said. “This is a system on the brink, in this province. And this is a system that is worth saving. This is a system that can be saved.”
Beck’s health policy proposals include more consultations with rural and remote medical workers, offering more education and training so would-be health professionals can fill open positions, and working to change the way nurses are hired and scheduled so that more of them can secure full-time positions rather instead of unpredictable part-time shifts.
“There are some very practical measures we can enact,” she said. “We can deliver for people before Christmas (and) give people a bit of a break.”
As to where the money is going to come from, Beck said it will not involve long-term debt. She says an NDP government would balance the budget within four years.
“We have $20 billion in revenue in this province of 1.3 million people,” she said. “This isn’t a revenue problem, it’s a management problem.”
On Sunday afternoon, Beck was visiting multiple NDP campaign offices in Saskatoon, speaking to staffers and supporters as they prepare for a month of door-knocking, phone-banking and getting out the vote.
While she expects a hard-fought race, with the Saskatchewan NDP and the Saskatchewan Party neck-and-neck in recent public polls, Beck encouraged people to take the time to listen to what their neighbours — of all political leanings — have to say, and hearing them out about what matters most to them.
“If you go looking for division, you can always find it,” she said. “But if you go looking for the common ground, I’m pretty good at finding that as well.”
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