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The opposition is accusing the provincial government of selling out Saskatchewan workers and businesses.
On Monday, Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck said that if her party forms government after this fall’s election, she will prioritize hiring Saskatchewan workers, growing Saskatchewan businesses and producing more locally-made goods.
“What I’m talking about today is about priorities and looking at maximum value when we’re spending public dollars,” Beck told reporters at a media event.
Beck pointed to examples like the province hiring a French company to build the Regina Bypass and giving a sole-source contract to a Calgary-based company that performs mammograms in addition to knee and hip surgeries. She also questioned the government giving a tire recycling contract to a California-based company.
Beck also said Scott Moe’s government needed to be more transparent when awarding contracts.
NDP Leader Carla Beck said Saskatchewan taxpayers aren’t getting the best value for their tax dollars. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)
“What we’ve seen under this government – increasing, really, in recent years – is (a) willingness to hand over contracts with a very unclear request for proposal process, with very limited transparency, to friends and donors,” the NDP leader said.
She said it’s something the opposition has observed in the Legislature and is also hearing about from concerned residents.
“This is something we hear across the province,” Beck said. “Concerns about RFPs, concerns about making sure that when we’re spending tax dollars that the maximum value goes to people here in the province.”
Responding to Beck’s concerns at a separate event, Moe told reporters that 80 per cent of government contracts go to Saskatchewan companies.
The premier also said Saskatchewan benefits from cross-border arrangements like the Canada Free Trade Agreement and the New West Partnership Trade Agreement.
“Saskatchewan very much is not only connected to other states and provinces across North America, but we are globally connected as well, as we export to over 163 countries around the world, and in each of those countries we are also looking at and attracting investment,” Moe said.
Moe noted that BHP and Mosaic are foreign companies, but both have invested heavily in Saskatchewan.
“The words that the NDP is speaking, really, are not relevant to what the general direction of Saskatchewan procurement is, and the general direction and strength that we have in our broader economy,” Moe said.
Moe also accused Beck of seeking donations from Prairie Sky Strategies – a Calgary consulting firm that employs former Saskatchewan Party MLA Kevin Doherty.
“They complain out of one side of their mouth, but ask for donations out of the other side of their mouth,” the premier said.
–with files from 980 CJME’s Roman Hayter
