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tank: economic scare tactic by sask. party, moe crashes into reality
saskatchewan premier scott moe claims in a recent ad that an ndp government will 'crash' the economy, which reflects poorly on his own record.
aug 14 2024
3 minute read
saskatchewan premier scott moe answers questions from the press after his state of agriculture speech at canada's farm show inside the viterra international trade centre on tuesday, june 18, 2024 in regina.
kayle neis
/
regina leader-post
the provincial election is scheduled for three days before halloween, but premier scott moe and the saskatchewan party already seem scared.
a recent party advertisement featured moe in front of the jim pattison children’s hospital in saskatoon, claiming that an ndp government will “crash our economy.” he adds: “just like they did before.”
if you’re wondering when exactly the ndp crashed saskatchewan’s economy or whether it’s even possible for a government to do so, don’t bother. it’s never happened.
but moe should have avoided the economy scare tactic, because reality reflects poorly on his own government’s performance .
most will recall that the saskatchewan party’s direct political ancestor, the progressive conservatives under grant devine , left the province mired in debt in the early 1990s. the ndp under roy romanow cleaned up the fiscal mess devine’s pcs left behind.
more recently, though, saskatchewan’s economy performed better under the ndp than it has under the current regime.
in the last decade the ndp was in government, from 1997 to 2007, saskatchewan’s gross domestic product went from $50.6 billion to $61.2 billion, growth of about 21 per cent.
some years were beset by declines, but, on average, the economy grew over that 11-year period by about two per cent per year.
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during the saskatchewan party’s current 17-year run, gdp, which measures economic output, grew from $61.2 billion in 2007 to $77.9 billion last year. that represents growth of 27 per cent or about 1.6 per cent per year — lower than under the previous ndp government.
what’s more, the largest gdp decline this century of five per cent — the only decrease that could remotely be considered a “crash” — happened from 2008 to 2009, in the saskatchewan’s party ‘s first term.
only one premier this century oversaw a three-year decline in economic output, and his name is scott moe. gdp dropped by five per cent from 2018, when moe became premier, to 2021, severely hindering his ability to claim a “strong economy” and be taken seriously.
granted, this period includes the first year of the covid-19 pandemic, when canada’s economy also declined. but canada bounced back to grow again the following year, while saskatchewan remained in recession under moe.
saskatchewan’s economy soared in 2022, due to the skyrocketing price of potash after the russian invasion of ukraine, but that would have happened regardless of who was governing.
the economy grew more modestly last year, but that failed to stop the government from crowing about a record gdp — a claim that could be made most years in saskatchewan this century.
as for the tiresome charge about population drain under the ndp , saskatchewan was growing significantly during the last year of ndp rule, and it was driven by people moving here from elsewhere in canada.
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currently, saskatchewan consistently loses thousands to other provinces, mainly booming alberta, and our growth is fuelled solely by international immigration.
and the perception that saskatchewan is struggling persists. polls consistently show residents’ economic pessimism; concern about the economy and inflation in moe’s saskatchewan lead the nation.
the pervasiveness of poverty and homelessness directly contradict the “strong economy” boasts.
but the desperation of trying to spook voters with a false claim about an economic crash can be traced to an obvious source: moe and his party foresee a close election, as reflected in a recent poll of internet panellists that showed the ndp with a slight lead.
that survey also pegged the right-wing saskatchewan united party at six per cent of decided voters as the upstart party plans to run candidates in every race, which could split the vote to the ndp’s advantage.
moe’s government faces a particular challenge to hold onto seats in regina and saskatoon , which is perhaps why the latest ad was recorded in the bridge city .
in the message, moe appears to be standing on the meewasin trail, even though his government gutted funding for the meewasin valley authority and tore up its partnership agreement.
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those sorts of decisions could come back to haunt moe and his government in october.
phil tank is the digital opinion editor at the saskatoon starphoenix.
our websites are your destination for up-to-the-minute saskatchewan news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and leaderpost.com. for regina leader-post newsletters click here; for saskatoon starphoenix newsletters click here
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