Sask. NDP pledge class-size cap during convention in Prince Albert

With a year to go to the next provincial election Ryan Meili, the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) took to the stage at the party’s convention in Prince Albert Saturday morning.

Meili spoke to an excited crowd about education, healthcare, and the economy with the main message being putting people first.

Cap on some classroom sizes

Among the highlights of his delivery was a promise to address underfunding in Saskatchewan education. He said no classroom from K-3 would have more than 24 children and there would be individual support for children who need it.

He also pledged a resilient economy for the province in which he touted a Saskatchewan First local procurement policy.

Local procurement

“When it’s our hospitals, our roads and our schools, our bridges, built with our tax dollars,” Meili asked the crowd, “don’t you think we should be building them with our companies and our workers? That’s why New Democrats will implement a Saskatchewan First plan to ensure that public dollars go into local companies who hire local workers.”

During his speech Meili referred to the NDP as underdogs and speaking to the media afterwards he stuck by that statement.

Not frontrunners

“There is no question we are the underdogs in this race. They’ve (the Saskatchewan Party) got how many more MLA’s than we do [and} they’ve got lots of money,” Meili said. “But when I think about it that way us as underdogs it actually gives me a lot more comfort understanding that we’re the underdogs as a party. But we’re also on the side of the underdogs, on the side of the people and I think people are looking for exactly that.”

The provincial election is a year away and Meili said he is aiming to get more than 31 seats to consider it a victory.

“That’s what we’re shooting for ,we believe there is a path to winning that,” he said. “Now obviously no matter what happens we want to have more seats [than now] , we’re targeting seats where we have an opportunity to grow, we think we have a real chance of winning government.”

“The focus is to grow, and we’re focused on trying to win, we’re not looking at trying to finish second here,” Meili added.

Prince Albert Northcote NDP MLA Nicole Rancourt will be trying to be re-elected next election whereas NDP candidate Troy Parenteau will be running for the Prince Albert Carlton riding currently held by Sask Party MLA Joe Hargrave.

“I think this is the third time I’m in this area this week, we’re going to be around Prince Albert a lot, me personally,” he said. “We’ve got great candidates in Nicole coming back and Troy Parenteau in Prince Albert Carlton, as well as Lon Borgerson in Batoche.”

“We’ve got a great team around here but we’re also going to see the provincial party putting in a significant focus to make sure there are resources here, that I’m here regularly so that Prince Albert knows that we’re here and we’re working for them.”

He said part of the reason why they held the convention in Prince Albert was to show they’re interested in areas other than just Regina and Saskatoon.

Conservative voters

“We see growth for us all over the province including in rural areas, and Prince Albert is absolutely a target region for us,” he said. “I believe that winning Northcote and Carlton are crucial for our chances to win government.”

In the federal election all the ridings went Conservative and Meili admits he is concerned, but said the party was engaging in conversations about how people in Western Canada are feeling. He added there was a difference in how people vote federally and provincially.

Ian Gustafson, paNOW