Carla Beck shares thoughts on Sask. Throne Speech on The Evan Bray Show

A lot has changed for the Saskatchewan NDP in the most recent provincial election, with the party gaining a total of 14 seats across the province.

NDP Leader Carla Beck greeted her party’s MLAs at the Legislative Building as the NDP held its first caucus meeting earlier this month.

Beck joined The Evan Bray Show on Tuesday to discuss the Throne Speech, changes to her caucus and how the NDP is ready to hit the ground running in the Legislative Building.

Listen to the full interview with Carla Beck here:

The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Bray: What was your reaction when you walked into the chamber and saw a lot more desks on the NDP side?

Beck: When I first had the opportunity to see this, the chairs arranged in the legislature, it certainly it has changed. It’s a changed legislature, not only in terms of where the desks are, but I think Saskatchewan people will see that it’s a changed landscape when it comes to the politics of this province. We’ve got a much stronger opposition in the assembly. We’ve got 31 new members in that assembly.

Saskatchewan people, as the premier has acknowledged, have voted for change, and we’re about to see what kind of change that’s going to mean for the people of Saskatchewan and how we do business in the legislature.

What were your thoughts on the Throne Speech, any surprises there? 

Beck: There weren’t a lot of surprises in there. I would say that the Sask. Party has never had a problem making promises. What we’re really focused on are the solutions… the results that we see. We know that Saskatchewan people deserve better health care. We know that people are struggling to pay their bills right now, that they need some relief. We know that our kids need a better education than we’re providing right now. We know that we need safer communities. The rhetoric is there, the promises are there. Our job, and we will do this, is holding the government to account to deliver more than just words (and) actual results for Saskatchewan people.

On that note, we saw in the speech an increase in the number of urgent care centers. I think the one in Regina has already proven to be a great success. That, to me, is a step in the right direction. But staffing is always the concern. Would you agree?

Beck: Staffing is the key concern there. This is an idea that shows some promise, but the number one issue is making sure that we have enough staff to adequately staff not only that urgent care center, but to continue to staff our hospitals, to continue to staff our local doctors’ offices. That has been a concern that that urgent care center has drawn those professionals away from other facilities. We continue to have the highest rate of health-care professionals leaving the province or leaving the professional all together in this province. We continue to see a government — and again today, I think that that announcement would have come as a surprise to many who are working on the front lines — that has refused to actually consult work with those doctors, those nurses, those on the front line in health care, to address these rates of people leaving the profession. That needs to change if we are actually going to be able to deliver health care in this province in a way that people should expect.

The Regina urgent care centre was opened in an effort to improve wait times and help relieve the pressure on larger hospitals. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)

One of the things that I talked with the premier about is the notion of of health care reform. Do you have any thoughts on what health care reform needs to look like in our province?

Beck: I know what it it can’t continue to look like, and that is major health-care decisions happening not with the input of those in communities and on the front line. Those decisions being made in small rooms, behind closed doors, in the legislature or in the ministry. This has to be about working with communities and returning some of that local voice, working with the health-care providers, who not only know where their concerns are, where the problems are, they are very eager, if you sit down with them, to talk about solutions, what’s working, what’s not working. That hasn’t happened under this government. People really did vote for change in this election, regardless of who they voted for. One of the things that I heard from people time and time again, they are tired of rhetoric. They want to see results. We’re not going to see those results in health care or in education unless we actually sit down and work with those on the front lines who have a good idea where the problems are, but more importantly, where the solutions may lie.

The Sask. Party announced just prior to the election that they were going to form a committee to work with nurses. It features in the Throne Speech as well. Is that promising for you?

Beck: I noted that in the Throne Speech. This is something that nurses have been asking for for years, so we’ll see. With all of these promises, with all of the rhetoric, the proof really will be in the pudding. I think that’s what people are focused on. I know that that’s what our team is going to be focused on. Good words are one thing. People are tired of promises that don’t get kept. We’ll be looking for actual results. We’ll be pushing for results for Saskatchewan people.

Hundreds of nurses, health-care workers and members of the public gathered at the Legislative Building to rally for patient safety and improvements in health care. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

You are quoted as saying ‘Scott Moe and the Sask Party aren’t going to know what hit them,’ when you were talking about what this new legislature looks like. Tell me what you meant with those words.

Beck: I guess the first thing is, you know, we have a number of new MLAs. We’ve got more balance in that legislature when it comes to the seats on the government side and the opposition side. But I have a team that is fired up. These are people that have worked incredibly hard over the last number of years, who have been connecting with people in their constituencies who are very eager to bring the concerns of the people that they heard from on the doorstep into that legislature. This is a team that is driven by the priorities of Saskatchewan people. They are going to be fearless… when it comes to going after the government to ensure that we see results for Saskatchewan people. I’m incredibly proud of this team. They are very eager to get into that legislature. This is a government that has not always responded when they hear criticism, when they’re pushed in a way that’s positive. I think they’re going to have no choice, because this team will will hold them to account every day in the legislature and outside that legislature.

When Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck saw the new setup of seats in the house, with nearly half on the Opposition side, she says it was emotional. Nov. 21, 2024 (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

The Sask. Party clearly, in the Speech from the Throne yesterday, has laid out their affordability measures, which differ from yours. Do you see that there are some good things in there, or are you thinking that they’re they’re taking a wrong path to trying to help people with affordability?

Beck: My major concern with the announcement that the government has made is that these measures won’t come into effect for most people. Most people will not see any additional dollars in their pocket until the next tax year 2026. There is an urgency with which people are dealing with their bills. We heard we heard it time and again people who are not putting their kids in hockey this year, people who are struggling between whether they’re paying the rent or putting gas in their car or they’re putting groceries on their table. Our measure and we’re going to announce an emergency motion today cutting the fuel tax, something that we’ve seen other provinces provide for their citizens, something that would see tomorrow. If that motion were to pass, people in this province could see the price at the pumps drop by 15 cents. I know when people are getting ready for Christmas they’re putting fuel in the in the snowblower. This would have a real impact for for Saskatchewan people. Up until today, the government has refused to even acknowledge that, that that might be a consideration. I think people need a break, and they need it before Christmas. Those are the measures that we’re putting forward.

(It would be a ) suspension. We’ve seen six months in Alberta. We’ve seen Manitoba bring it in for six months and extend it twice since then, so up to 18 months. It would depend on  where those those price pressures are in the future. Saskatchewan people can’t wait, many of them, until 2026. They need a break now.

Where’s the balance when we’re talking about bringing money in and and being able to pay for things? So just a few minutes ago, we were talking about how we’re going to staff the urgent care centers. Where’s the money coming from? How do you how do you reconcile those conversations with, also, affordability conversations, because clearly that money coming off of the gas right now, that provincial tax goes to paying something. So what’s that balance look like for you?

Beck: Well, one thing about a six-month suspension is it allows you to re-evaluate in six months. It doesn’t tie you into anything in in the long term. There’s always a balance. I think that the important thing for any government is that they actually are addressing the priorities of Saskatchewan people. It’s not that people are, you know, asking for a break just because it would be nice to have. We really are hearing from people that it is a struggle. We’re hearing it from small businesses that people don’t have money in their pocket to be able to spend in their small businesses. This is something that is urgent. We lead the country with the number of people whose mortgages are are in arrears, for example, by a large measure in this province.

The notation near the end of the Throne Speech about a more respectful assembly went as far to talk about not texting with the speaker. To me, that’s really positive language. What are your thoughts on that?

Beck: People in this election voted for change, regardless, in in some ways of who they voted for. I think one of the changes that I people want, is they are tired of politicians at any level just arguing for for their own sake. They want to see debate in that legislature, but in a way that is actually meant to deliver results for Saskatchewan people. Rhetoric for rhetoric’s sake, or being disagreeable — I believe the Premier said yesterday — just to be disagreeable. I think people are tired of that. There is a role for rigorous debate, for oversight, for looking at the decisions made by the government, but at the end of the day all of us who serve in that legislature, all 61 of us, our goal has to be about delivering real results, not for ourselves, but for Saskatchewan people.

In the conversations that I had with people all across this province, there was definitely an urban/rural divide in the support for the NDP and the Sask. Party. But I also heard there was a real frustration about the connection between the provincial NDP and the federal. And I would suggest, in some cases, it’s a perceived connection, because I saw you doing a lot of things to push back against that. Is that part of strategy going forward, to continue to try and separate the brand, if you will, of the provincial NDP from the federal?

Beck: This is a government in waiting when we look at the Saskatchewan NDP right now, regardless of who’s in power in Ottawa. I’ve said this time and again, my number one goal is delivering for the people of Saskatchewan. So regardless of who is in power in Ottawa, if there are concerns that they’re making decisions that hurt this province, that don’t deliver in the interests of Saskatchewan people, I will be at that table making sure that those concerns are known.

Also, regardless of who’s in power in Ottawa, if there is potential in the decisions that they’re making benefit for the people in this province, I will also be at that table making sure that we get the best deal.