(Photo: Carla Beck, candidate for Cumberland, Jordan McPhail, and Doyle Vermette, the former Saskatchewan NDP MLA for Cumberland. Submitted by Sask NDP)
Voting week starts on Tuesday in Saskatchewan and MBC News has been reaching out to candidates running in the provincial election.
Below you will find a transcript from the interview MBC News conducted with NDP leader Carla Beck as well as the full-length interview audio.
*Note- At the time of publishing this article, MBC News hasn’t yet received a response from the Sask Party or Green Party.
MBC News: Carla, to start off, can you please just tell me a little bit about yourself?
Carla Beck: Sure. I’m Carla Beck. I’m the leader of the Saskatchewan NDP. I’ve been an MLA since 2016. I’ve been leader of the Saskatchewan NDP for about 2.5 years. And I’m running to be the Premier of Saskatchewan. I’ve got a great team, alongside, Jordan McPhail here in Cumberland, and we are running to form the next government in Saskatchewan.
MBC News: Thank you, Carla. And I guess getting into kind of my first question is just a big point of concern for many people in the province is the cost of living and how it skyrocketed in recent years and especially in the north where price is already high. If elected as premier, how would you kind of help with the cost of living throughout Saskatchewan?
Carla Beck: Yeah. There’s no doubt this is one of the main issues we hear right across the province, but those pressures are even stronger here in the north. Day one priority for us, one of the things that we would do if elected is suspend the gas tax on day one. That would save people $0.15 a liter, when they’re filling up. And I know that that’s something that would provide relief from people right across the province. But especially here in the north, where people tend to drive bigger vehicles, they have to drive longer distances, that would be able to put money in people’s pockets right away. We’ve also talked about what we would do would be to remove the PST from things like kids clothing and from groceries to ensure people had more money in their pocket by Christmas. I know the winter and the lead up to Christmas can be even more stressful for people trying to pay bills.
So those are those are two ways that we could make sure people have more money in their pocket by Christmas. This plan would save the average family in this province double what’s being proposed. And, you know, other things like, ensuring that there’s more social housing available, that we are looking at a maximum for rent increases, as well as, a school nutrition program, so families can save more on their groceries and make sure that their kids are getting a good meal. So those are just a few ways that we would make life more affordable for people. But that day one priority is cutting that gas tax.
MBC News: And another priority for many people is education. And so, if elected, how would you support education in the province? And kind of what were your thoughts on last year’s teachers strike with the province?
Carla Beck: Yeah. This is this is no doubt. This is some place that we need to invest, and we need to do it right away. Kids don’t get a second chance for that for that good start that we all want for our kids. We’ve got a plan to invest $2,000,000,000 over the 1st term to undo the damage of a decade of cuts and underfunding that we’ve seen from the Sask Party in education.
I served two terms as a school board trustee, and I know that, you know, this has been a problem that has just grown and grown. We’ve seen an increase in the number of students, but fewer supports for those kids in our schools. We’ve added 15,000 additional students in Saskatchewan, but only one teacher. We’ve got fewer social workers, fewer psychologists, fewer supports for kids that need help. And I know a lot of parents are being asked to, you know, keep their kids at home or come get their kids, during the school day because the supports aren’t available for them.
We’ve got to set our kids up for success. We’ve got to make sure that every child in this province has the opportunity to thrive, and we’re going to do that by investing in our kids’ classrooms. You know, the concerns that teachers brought up last year, the government’s known about this. They know that this is a result of their cuts and underfunding to education. We’ve heard it from school boards. We’ve heard it from communities, from parents. Right across the board, they’ve underfunded our kids’ classrooms, and our plan is to invest. It’s one of the best investments we can make is to ensure that the kids have a good start. Awesome. And, another concern, something that you’ve been talking about a lot throughout your campaign is just health care across the province.
MBC News: It’s a big concern for a lot of people with, you know, long wait times and overcrowding in the hospitals. So, if elected, how would you plan to support health care in Saskatchewan? And I guess another big concern for northerners is just access to health care. A lot of them have to travel hundreds of kilometers to see service providers. So, how would you help support health care in the province?
Carla Beck: Yeah. You know, we’ve been we’ve been talking all morning here in in La Ronge with, Jordan, with Doyle, and, you know, with folks in the community about some of the challenges. In fact, it’s been one of the things that people are bringing up the most, the lack of health care, mental health supports, you know, folks having to travel 3 times a week for dialysis, for example, or, you know, no CT scans, women, many women not being able to give birth near home. You know, these are all huge concerns. Our plan is, and I’ve heard this just today, we need to retain the healthcare workers that we have in our province, especially in the north.
We have to have a plan and we do have a plan for a grow your own strategy to ensure that folks who are living in the north, who might want to work in healthcare, have access not only to training spots, but we’re removing barriers to people actually being able to complete their courses and be in their home community delivering care, which is what many people want to do right now that there are a lot of barriers. The strategies for recruitment and retention are made in small rooms in Regina. It doesn’t necessarily reflect the reality where some of the challenges are in the north. We’ve also put forth that we would actually implement the community advisory networks, something that was promised when we went to one health region, where local communities, local stakeholders have a voice in what the challenges, what the opportunities are in their local communities. I know often, in the North, there is a feeling, and I think it’s a reality that too many decisions are being made in the South without understanding.
Some of the challenges in the North, we need a strategy built for the North to recruit and retain healthcare workers here in the province. We’ve made a commitment to invest $1,100,000,000 over the next number of years to ensure that we are spending the money, making sure that people can get care when and where they need it, something that isn’t happening. People are having we’re spending a lot of money on travel. We’re spending money on travel nurses, we’re spending money shipping people out of the province when we should be focusing on making sure that care is available as close to home as possible. That has to start with staffing, and that would be our focus on day 1.
MBC News: And kind of in that same topic of health care, lots of people have been concerned about mental health and addictions issues across the province and then, you know, also homelessness across the province. So, what do you feel are the root causes of those issues and how would you aim to address them?
Carla Beck: Yeah. I mean, some of some of the root causes of mental health and addictions, I mean, they go back, they go back a century. Right? Residential schools, trauma, those are at the root cause for many for many people, and it’s not something we’ve adequately addressed. Other drivers here are decisions that have been made recently. And we’ve just heard that this morning as well, changes to the SIS program, which has made the housing, the homelessness problem, worse. Lack of access to counseling is something we’ve heard about as well. And failing to have an effective strategy to reduce addictions.
What we’ve seen from the provincial government, you know, dealing with rising rates of crime, dealing with homelessness, has been decisions that have made things worse or have allowed these problems to grow. I’m going to point to the Marshals Service announced 2 years ago, we’ve already spent $14,000,000, no boots on the ground for another two years. What we’re saying is we should, yes, hire more officers within existing forces, but also address the root causes of crime, deal with homelessness to spend half of that money to work with communities to put in place preventative measures to curb some of those drivers of crime. We will never have enough police if we don’t start to deal with the root causes of crime, of homelessness, mental health and addiction, and start rebuilding and building healthy communities.
This is about being effective and making sure that people have the services that they need. The other piece there, we’ve got a lot of vacant social housing units in the province right now, working to restore those, 500 of the 3,000 units right now that are that are currently vacant, starting to bring those back so people can have homes. It doesn’t make sense to have 3,000 units empty while people are sleeping rough in places like La Ronge and right across the province right now. And, you know, this is a real concern. This is, you know, the first year that there’s not going to be some place for a warming shelter here in La Ronge. These are issues that are dangerous if we don’t address them, and that’s where we would put our focus.
MBC News: And I know we’ve kind of talked about a lot of the issues across the province now, but kind of how has the campaign trail been going so far? And talking to Saskatchewan residents, what are really their main concerns and areas that they think need improvement?
Carla Beck: Yeah. You know, Jenna, there are a lot of people in this province who are looking for change, and we’re hearing that every day, from people who haven’t thought it you know, that that they their vote mattered, for example, or people who have who have maybe voted, for the Sask Party before. We had two MLA’s and another person who used to work for the Sask Party say enough is enough. We’re going to vote for change. We’re going to vote for positive change in this province. And we’re hearing that everywhere.
And really, the top issues are almost the same right across the province. Of course, you know, the solutions might be different in different areas, but the problems are the same. Health care is a huge issue right across this province. The cost of living is another issue that we hear everywhere in the province. Education is a huge issue and crime, rising rates of crime.
We currently have double the national rate of a violent crime of domestic violence, mental health and addictions and homelessness. Like those are really the issues right across this province. We’re hearing people say that they want change. What we’ve been putting forward is our plan to hit the ground running on day one to start to address those top priorities for Saskatchewan people. That’s what we’re focused on.
I think people see that we’re serious about fixing these things. We have to have solutions. We have to have decisions made in this province that are in the best interest of the people of this province. And, you know, that’s been our focus, and I think people are ready to hear that message. They’re looking for change, and we are looking to provide that change.
MBC News: And lastly here, kind of just how do you feel the, the only debate of the campaign went on Wednesday night? How was it for you?
Carla Beck: You know, I was proud to stand and talk about our plan, to talk to the people of Saskatchewan, about what our priorities are. Because this really is a plan that has been built, with miles and miles and hours and hours of meeting with Saskatchewan people all over the province about, you know, not only where the problems are, but where the opportunity is, how we can start to ensuring that that all people in this province have that chance at a at a good life that that we all want.
Safe communities, health care, education for our kids, a life that you can afford. And it felt good to be able to talk directly to the people of this province. It is an honor to be able to serve the people of this province. We can never forget that any of us who serve, who we work for. We work for the people of this province. It’s our job to make things better. There is opportunity in every corner of this province. Wonderful people in every corner of this province. I think they deserve better. I think that’s why people are looking for change.
MBC News: Thank you so much, Carla. Was there anything else that you would like to add?
Carla Beck: Jenna, I just want to say thank you so much for the opportunity. I want to say to all of your listeners that this is a team that’s working hard. I know Jordan up here is working so hard. We deserve better, and please get out and vote on October 28th. We plan to deliver better for the people of this province.