Swift Current By-Election – Candidates Respond To SEIU-West Questionnaire

The SEIU-West Political Action and Awareness Committee (PAAC) sent a series of questions to all candidates, as of February 6, for the upcoming by-elections taking place on March 1st in Swift Current and Kindersley. Members who live and work in these areas are affected by the political decisions made by their elected representatives, so the PAAC ensured their questions would directly impact the wellbeing of the local communities. Below, you will find the Swift Current candidates’ responses to the questions. For more voting information such as polling locations, voter ID, etc., click here.

Swift Current:

Stefan Rumpel (NDP) – below is a snap shot – for the full response and questionnaire, click here.

Health care

• Is against any public sector wage rollback and understands these cuts affect recruitment and retention
• Will fight for appropriate staffing levels in health care

Education

• Wants to invest in childcare and early childhood educational opportunities
• Against the $55 million cut to education, and says the promised $7.5 million falls significantly short on education needs
• As a teacher, has worked alongside many educators and support staff – the cuts to education are largely why he is running in this by-election as he promises to push the Sask party to restore the full amount of funding to our classrooms

Precarious Work and a $15 Minimum Wage

• Saskatchewan has one of the lowest minimum wages in Canada, and he supports a fair minimum wage of $15/hour
• Will fight for safe, stable, well-paid work and wants to reverse the cuts to employment training and supports for students as well as their tuition fee hikes

Women’s Issues

• Proud of NDP team that is 50% women, recognizes women are disproportionately impacted by a lack of access to childcare
• Ready to work to increase child care spaces and reduce the cost of child care to ensure access is universal
• Father of two young children, understands importance of access/affordability
• Will advocate for paid leave to workers who experience domestic violence

Climate Change

• Wants our province to face the facts of climate change, and wants to partner with companies to improve monitoring, regulations and enforcements to protect our environment
• Will advocate for a made in Saskatchewan solution to address climate change and is against Ottawa’s attempts to impose their tax on us

Funding to Public Services

• Against targeting mismanagement on vulnerable people such as seniors and children with special needs
• Will speak out against cuts and fight for public services for the Swift Current community

Aidan Roy (Sask Liberal Association) – below is a snap shot – for the full response and questionnaire,  click here.

Health care

• Recognizes rollbacks as a burden, but more concerned about access to health care
• Wants to invest in health care in order to retain health care providers, especially in rural areas

Education

• As a pre-service teacher, understands the importance of education
• Wants to see an immediate increase to our education budget
• Wants to updated our Social Studies Curriculums as students in high school receive information anywhere from 20-50 years old
• Will advocate for more schools being built to decrease growing classroom sizes

Precarious Work and A $15 Minimum Wage

• Is an advocate for free enterprise and wants to reduce regulation on small businesses which could result in job creation
• Wants to lessen tuition by giving a direct conditional grant to all post-secondary facilities
• Will only do a $15 minimum wage over the span of 8-12 years
• Wants to see a $14 minimum wage over 4 years that is income-tax free
• Wants to see personal-income tax cuts for everyone

Women’s Issues

• Has no plan to address issues facing women
• Wants to have a family one day, with access to affordable child care
• Will fight for paid leave when it comes to domestic violence
• Wants to strengthen mental health services

Climate Change

• Supports economic initiatives that encourage green energy expansion
• Tax rebates on clean energy installations will influence our population towards green energy

Funding to Public Services

• Once a strong economy is created, we can invest in public services
• Wants to see long term invests into our economy through business start-up programs with specific ones for First Nation and Metis populations
• Wants to see small-business tax breaks

Everett Hindley (Sask Party) – below is a snap shot – for the full response and questionnaire, click here. Being that he did not directly respond to questions about wage rollbacks, it is important to note that Scott Moe of the Sask Party, has indicated he supports the 3.5% public sector rollbacks – and is now saying he wants to cut 5 per cent from workers in the public service.

Health care

• Respects the bargaining process but says that there is drop in our province’s revenue, so he wants to monitor these wage expenses in order to balance our budget
• Discusses the new Meadows Long Term Care facility in Swift Current
• Discusses how many doctors and nurses are in Saskatchewan, and the number of seats to the College of Medicine
• Discusses SaskDocs who works with health regions to recruit more doctors in rural and remote areas

Education

• Says Scott Moe will invest $7.5 million into education
• Says Moe has committed to increasing funding to $30 million to hire more in-school professionals when the 2018-19 budget is tabled
• Discusses new Swift Current schools since 2007

Precarious Work and a $15 Minimum Wage

• Says Saskatchewan is projected to lead in economic growth, no reference to precarious work or the current struggles to make ends meet
• Says the minimum wage is reviewed annually, no commitment to change
• No comment on tuition rates

Women’s Issues

• Says the Sask Party took action on interpersonal violence by providing unpaid leave, no commitment to paid leave
• No comment on child care access or affordability

Climate Change

• Says the Sask Party has a made in Saskatchewan Climate Change Strategy with no carbon tax

Funding to Public Services

• Says the last budget was difficult, but had to be done to address the deficit