Education, Child Care, Treaties Key For Higgins

Education, Child Care, Treaties Key For Higgins

Monday, May 25, 2009 at 16:23

One of the candidates in the upcoming Saskatchewan NDP leadership contest is pledging to reduce poverty by 25 per cent in her first term as premier, should the NDP form government again.

Deb Higgins says many of her policies would be aimed at helping rural and northern residents enjoy the same quality of life as those in cities.

She says tasks such as indexing the minimum wage to the cost of living and creating more spaces for child care would also be priorities for her office.

Higgins stresses that all Saskatchewan people — whether they are First Nations or not — are “treaty people”, and she is committed to “standing shoulder to shoulder with First Nations” in their approaches to the federal government to ensure the treaties are honoured.

Higgins also says if she were elected, she would ensure increases to education funding.

Voters will choose a new leader to replace Lorne Calvert on June 6.