Premier ends speculation, says no spring election

Premier Scott Moe put a stop to the speculation Thursday, announcing he will not be calling a spring election.

“We will remain focused on providing a strong, stable government and addressing the health and economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. I will not be calling a provincial election this spring,” Moe said in a brief emailed statement and on Twitter.

An election is scheduled to be held at some point in 2020. It had initially been set for Oct. 26, but there had been speculation Moe would call an election as early as next week.

Health Minister Jim Reiter said there was a window available to call an early election, but Moe never said he would make use of that.

“He had never selected a date,” Reiter told reporters. “The (March) 19th that was floating around frankly was floated by the Leader of the Opposition, not by the premier. The premier is always going to put the safety and security of Saskatchewan residents first.

“With all that speculation, in light of everything that has happened essentially in the last 24 hours, he felt it was appropriate to put all alarm aside and just let people know that he didn’t think this was an appropriate time and he wouldn’t be exercising the window.”

Reiter pointed to the announcement Wednesday by the World Health Organization that it had deemed coronavirus a pandemic and to decisions made over the past 24 hours stemming from COVID-19.

“Lots of events were cancelled and yet people were still talking about, ‘Are we going to have an election?’ ” Reiter said. “I would assume by then that (Moe) probably felt that we weren’t, but the fact it was still even having any discussion, he just felt it was best just to put that completely to rest.”

NDP Leader Ryan Meili said Moe had made “the final and wise decision” not to call a snap election.

“It’s the moment for us to be focused on two things: Our preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on our health system and the health of Saskatchewan people, and the impacts of the economic ramifications,” Meili said.

There was some speculation that the Saskatchewan Party would call the election one day after it delivers its budget Wednesday. That was put to rest with Moe’s announcement Thursday.

“Now the work ahead of us changes,” Meili said. “We stop focusing on an election, which I just think is so wise. This is not the moment for partisan politics. It’s not the moment to be going shaking hands door to door.”

Budget day plans continue with extra hand sanitizer

While other large events are getting cancelled, plans for budget day at the Saskatchewan Legislature are going ahead normally.

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said the government will not be delaying the provincial budget despite uncertainty about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple fronts.

Budget day often brings hundreds of guests from the private and public sector as well as community groups to the legislature.

Harpauer said Thursday the government is following the advice of the chief medical health officer to go ahead with plans for gatherings with an extra supply of hand sanitizer and advising people who feel unwell to stay home.

She said if the advice changes and the health risk increases, she is fine with delivering the budget with or without a crowd.

“I’m not fixated on that crowd, to be honest with you. Those that do (come) are welcome but I’m fine either way. If there is not one soul, I’m OK,” Harpauer said Thursday.

When asked about the financial implications of a pandemic, she noted the federal government has already committed extra funding to address some of the health needs.

As for the plunge in the price of oil and market fluctuations, Harpauer said the extra funding from the federal government and the drop in the dollar may offset some of the reduction in oil revenue.

“We will be presenting a balanced budget and whether or not that can remain will depend on how long the downturn remains, because we’ve had downturns within budgets before. What will help it to remain balanced is the fact that oil prices are less of an impact on our budget than they have been in the past,” Harpauer explained.

Harpauer said in these uncertain times it is impossible to predict how long the downturn may last but the expenditures in the upcoming budget will provide some stimulus to the economy.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Adriana Christianson, Lisa Schick and Evan Radford