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REGINA — Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove her party “is a government in waiting” as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting on Friday with 27 members, nearly double what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She said her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
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“This team will be laser focused on delivering real, positive change on the things that keep Saskatchewan people up at night,” Beck said.
People need affordability help right now, she said, adding that her party will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
“We’re ready to get to work cutting costs for families, and we won’t let up until the Sask. Party steps up with real, substantial cost-of-living relief,” she said.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon. The Saskatchewan Party won 34 of 61 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
Moe said this week when announcing his new cabinet that he would deprioritize a school change room directive he had previously said would be his first order of business after the vote.
Moe told reporters on Thursday that he “misspoke” when he said on the campaign trail before the Oct. 28 election that his first job if re-elected would be to ban “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls.”
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He said he should have promised his first priorities were to meet with the lieutenant-governor, form a cabinet and set a legislative agenda.
“When I was asked a question and provided a response on the change room policy here in the province, I (said) it was going to be the first order of business. I misspoke,” Moe said.
“I would say that this would not be the first order of business.”
The Saskatchewan Party leader made the change room pledge after he said he’d learned of a complaint about two biological boys using a girls’ locker room at a school in the southeastern part of the province.
Moe said he sometimes speaks before thinking.
“I need to take a breath from time to time and consult with people as well,” the premier said.
He added that he will consult with school boards about change room issues after school board elections are complete next week.
“I’m not going to preclude where those discussions will land,” Moe said.
“But I think parents across this province can be confident that those discussions are going to happen and they’re going to be supportive of every child.”
The Opposition NDP on Thursday said Moe’s change in priorities shows he’ll say anything to get into power.
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“He says one thing one day and another thing the next. You can’t trust a word he says,” the NDP said in a statement.
“He showed us this election that he will do anything to pander for votes.”
Moe swore in his 16-member cabinet with some new faces around the table and many veterans in different portfolios.
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