Platforms & promises: what have the parties pledged?

The election draws to a close over the next couple of days with vote day Monday, April 4.

Each party has spent the last few weeks campaigning on a number of issues including the economy, education and health care.

There have also been a number of promises made.

The Saskatchewan Party would increase highway spending by $70 million over four years, reduce health region administration spending and sell some liquor stores.

The NDP is promising to hire more nurses, teachers and educational assistants, scrap Lean in health care facilities and review all P3 projects underway.

See a full list of promises made this election from all parties below.

Health Care

Green Party

Elimination of ambulance fees
Expanding Medicare

NDP

Eliminate Lean
Spending $106 million over four years to hire more front-line workers, including 400 staff to improve home care
Covering up to eight session of mental health counselling per year for children and youth
Hiring more mental health workers in northern Saskatchewan
Hiring 35 nurse practitioners to help treat non-urgent cases in the ER

PC Party

Dismantling of the 14 health regions over four years

Liberals

Oppose Sask. Party’s private fee-for-service MRI scans
Review of Lean program
Expand home care services
Reduce ER wait times
Support for palliative care

Sask. Party

Funding for families with children under six with autism
Allow patients to pay for CT scans using a two-for-one system, similar to MRI scans
Reduce regional health authority costs by $75 million to hire more long-term care staff
Increase funding for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind
Expand remote medical robotic technology

Education

Green Party

Eliminate tuition

NDP

Hiring 300 teachers and 300 educational assistants over four years
Double the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship to $1,000

Liberals

Stabilize provincial funding for universities
Reduce interest for government student loans
Per-student funding to school districts based on current-year enrolment
Provide educators with funds to cover classroom needs

Sask. Party

Graduate Retention Program First-Home Plan allows provincial graduated to use up to $10,000 in GRP credits towards a down payment on their first Saskatchewan home
Increase the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship from $500 to $750

Social Issues

NDP

Phasing in a $50 per month increase to the Seniors’ Income Plan
Building 2,500 new affordable housing units
Restore the rent-to-own option for social housing
Introducing 2,000 new childcare spaces
Hiring 50 new child protection workers

PC Party

Increase before and after school programs
Increase the limit of children in private care homes from five to six children
Increase available childcare spaces by 10 per cent in the first year

Liberals

Increase permanent immigration levels
Phase out temporary foreign workers program
Raise basic personal income tax exemption
Tax-incentive system introduced to create rental units

Sask. Party

Allow seniors with household incomes under $70,000 to defer the education portion of their property taxes

Economy

Green Party

Balanced budget
A Guaranteed Livable Income to bring incomes to the poverty line

NDP

Total budget of $14.4 billion in spending with a deficit of $189.4 million, projecting surpluses starting in the 2017-18 fiscal year
$178 million in cuts during the first year in what the party describes as wasteful spending, with $120 million redirected to other areas in the first year
Give Saskatchewan residents the lowest-cost utility bundle by 2020
Eliminate the two per cent small-business tax

PC Party

Pressure the Federal Government to create a more co-operative system between short line railroads and the national rail companies

Liberals

Eliminate public debt, then invest 50 per cent of non-renewable resource revenues into a new sovereign wealth fund
Raise minimum wage to $13 per hour by July 2017
Mandate SaskPower to purchase locally-produced renewable energy
Offer income tax rebate to homeowners, businesses and farms covering 25 per cent of solar and wind power installation
Develop a pipeline system through the entire province
establish a northern Saskatchewan rail line

Sask. Party

Run a $259 million deficit in the upcoming budget, but return to surplus for the 2017-18 fiscal year
Introduce the “patent box” which would give a tax incentive to companies that commercialize patents and intellectual property into new products
Allow home-based food businesses to sell low-risk food products directly to consumers and retailers

Highways

NDP

Northern Highways Strategy would start with an all-weather road to Wollaston Lake

PC Party

Party endorses a northern route for the Regina Bypass

Sask. Party

Highways 2020 plan will see $2.7 billion invested over the next four years

Miscellaneous

NDP

Reinstate a Film Employment Tax Credit
Reduce the number of MLAs in the legislature from 61 to 55
Eliminate Executive Air
Eliminate SaskBuilds

PC Party

Restore the Film Employment Tax Credit
Initiative to utilize waste heat

Saskatchewan Liberals

Reduce the number of MLAs in the legislature from 61 to 48
Reinstate the Film Employment Tax Credit

Sask. Party

Tax credit worth $330 a year for volunteer firefighters and first responders
Selling 40 government-owned liquor stores to be converted to private stores, along with establishing 12 new private liquor stores

You can find more about each party’s platform on their websites: