Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and why you decided to run?
A: I grew up in Moose Jaw and I moved away to pursue my education, and then for work experience. When I graduated from the College of Commerce in 2000, the NDP were in power, and there weren't many opportunities in the province for work.
Most of the people I graduated with either went to Alberta or Ontario. I went to Ontario, and I worked out there for about 12 years. I have experience managing national retail companies.
When we had our first son, the Sask Party was back in power, and Brad Wall actually came out to Ontario. He was telling us about how the province had turned around; it was no longer a ‘have not’ province, but a ‘have province’. He talked about how Saskatchewan was no longer the province to be from, but the province to be in.
At that point we decided to come back out to Saskatchewan to raise our family. I have now three sons. When we came back, I initially worked at SaskPower as a consultant in energy efficiency and conservation.
I was able to relocate to Moose Jaw - the city that I grew up in, with my three boys, to work as a business instructor at Sask Polytech.
The reason I wanted to run in politics is, I've always been interested in politics. I think that public policy is very important. I have a strong business background, but I also have a strong compassion for people. Politics will give me the opportunity to combine my strong business background with my compassion for people and belief that public policy is very important.
Q: What are some of the pressing issues that you think are important in this election?
A: What I've been hearing at the door is concerns about the cost of living. I've been hearing concerns about just general challenges to make ends meet, and the frustration with the carbon tax and the NDP-Liberal coalition that has been keeping Trudeau in power, and also maintaining and prolonging this carbon tax.
Of course, there's a little bit about healthcare here and there, a little bit about education, but primarily it's around the cost of living.
Q: What would the Saskatchewan Party do when it comes to housing in the province?
A: Well, in terms of housing, the Saskatchewan Party will continue to take action to increase the supply and make housing more affordable in the province.
We've introduced the Secondary Suite Incentive Grant Program that provides per cent of the cost to build a new secondary suite to a maximum of $35,000.
We've introduced the PST rebate on new home construction, which rebates up to 42 per cent of the PST paid on the purchase of a newly constructed home.
The Saskatchewan Party also introduced the First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit which provides a new refundable income tax credit up to $1050 to eligible taxpayers on eligible homes.
We'll continue to invest in affordable housing in our communities and support the Provincial Approach to Homelessness as well. In the 2024-25 budget, it included an additional $80 million in funding for the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation to repair and maintained provincially owned housing. This also includes $10 million in additional funding to target the prevention and reduction of vacancies in social housing units and respond to the demand for social housing.
Our Provincial Approach to Homelessness includes funding to support the creation of 155 new supportive housing spaces, 120 new permanent emergency shelter spaces and 30 new complex needs emergency shelter spaces.
Since 2007, we've actually invested over $800 million to invest and develop almost 12,000 housing units, and repair another almost 5000 across the province. We’ll continue to do that so that we can increase the supply of housing across the province and keep it as affordable as possible.
Q: How would health care prosper under a Saskatchewan Party government?
A: Two years ago, the Sask Party introduced one of the most aggressive healthcare human resource plans, and that healthcare human resource plan includes the retention, training, incentivization, and retention of healthcare professionals in the province.
This is a challenge that all provinces are facing, finding and retaining enough healthcare workers. Of course, the problem is slightly exasperated in Saskatchewan because we have a growing province. We have more people living in Saskatchewan than ever before. We have a strong plan that we're going to continue to work on, to recruit and retain healthcare workers.
Through this human resources plan, in the last two years, we've attracted almost 1700 new healthcare professionals in Saskatchewan, and in Moose Jaw alone, it's been 156 healthcare professionals.
The other thing that we're doing is we're looking at innovative ways to deliver healthcare more effectively. We have introduced the Virtual Physicians Program, and we're looking at ways to increase the scope of existing healthcare providers. For example, we're looking at increasing the scope of pharmacists as well as nurse practitioners.
These are some of the ways that we are making progress to improve healthcare in Saskatchewan for everyone.
Q: What is your stance on policing and public safety?
A: Policing and public safety are obviously very important. We want everyone in the province to feel safe. We want families to be able to go outside and go to the park after school and feel safe. We want people to be able to shop and go into their downtown locations and feel safe.
The Saskatchewan Party continues to invest in policing. We are investing in 180 new RCMP officers, over 100 new municipal police officers, as well as the additional Marshall’s Service that would just expand and enhance and strengthen our police and public safety across the province. The Marshall Service will just be additional resources that are mobile and available to go across the province where they're needed.
The Saskatchewan Party government recently announced funding of close to $1 million for an additional 8 police officers in Moose Jaw. We'll continue to invest to keep our communities safe.
Q: What is the Saskatchewan Party's plan for the economy?
A: We will continue along the same path.
Saskatchewan has one of the strongest economies in Canada right now. We have more people living in the province than ever before. We have more people working in the province than ever before.
Since 2007, our province has grown by over 250,000 people and nearly 100,000 new jobs have been created.
Our real GDP has reached an all time high of almost $78 billion, which is the second highest year over year growth in Canada. We’ll continue to expand our exports, support small businesses, and attract investment.
Currently we have the lowest unemployment rate in Canada, we have the second highest percentage of people working per capita in Canada, and we are expected to be the first in private capital investment growth this year.
The only way to ensure a bright future and continue to invest in public services is through a strong economy. We'll continue to ensure that our economy is strong, so that our future is bright.