The leadership contenders for the upcoming Saskatchewan Party leadership race are heading through Yorkton. Scott Moe, MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook, came to the city and was taken on a tour the city by Yorkton MLA and Minister for Rural and Remote Health Greg Ottenbreit, meeting people and businesses in the area and attending the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Business Dinner.
Running for the leadership race, Moe emphasizes that while he’s the one in the public eye that’s just his role in the larger effort. Moe’s plan for the province involves a collaborative effort between him and the rest of his team, and his campaign launched with 22 sitting MLAs endorsing him. He said he always wanted to play a role in the party’s transition to a new leader, it was after consultation with his family and colleagues that Moe decided he would step up and run for leadership. However, Moe emphasizes that the plan goes far beyond him.
“This is a team effort that we’ve undertaken here. We have a number of MLAs and other individuals as well that are very much a part of the policy that we’re developing and will be announcing over the next week and months.”
Moe admits that he’s stepping into a challenging role, especially with an economic downturn, but he wants to make it a priority to deliver a balanced budget. He believes that a balanced budget is key to making government services sustainable in the long term.
A second pillar of his platform is to support communities and families in the province.
The plan also involves standing with Saskatchewan businesses, whether that means promoting the province’s products abroad or fighting regulations that they believe are harmful for the province.
“Most notably, recently, we’ve had some initiatives coming from the federal government such as carbon taxation which would be harmful, quite frankly, to the industries and careers that we have here in the province of Saskatchewan and we need to put forward our plan and stand for those careers and those jobs, and we will.”
Yorkton’s own MLA Greg Ottenbreit has endorsed Moe’s leadership bid. Ottenbreit says that while he considers the front-runners to be friends, he believes Moe is the best for the job, and notes the 21 other MLAs beside him at the announcement of his campaign shows the positives of his collaborative leadership style.
“You want to get behind the person you feel best suited for that role, as the leader of the party and ultimately the leader of the province. All of them have great leadership qualities but when I started looking at Scott, who I count as a friend as well, and how he has represented us on the advanced education portfolio... How he has represented us on the environment file, provincially, nationally and overseas... He just has a lot of great selfless leadership traits that really would lend themselves to being a very positive leader for the province.”
The Saskatchewan Party will decide their next leader on January 27.
