Word that federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh had announced his party was scrapping its supply and confidence agreement to keep the federal Liberals in power got a definite reaction from Saskatchewan provincial leaders on Wednesday.
“It’s about time,” said Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck at a media availability in White City shortly after the news broke.
Beck was in the community announcing a provincial campaign pledge for a new high school. But the news from the federal NDP prompted Beck to provide remarks to the media on that issue as well.
“I hear every day from residents frustrated with the federal NDP propping up the federal Liberal government, a government that has failed to deliver results for Saskatchewan be that on the cost of living, healthcare, or the growing economy crisis during such a pivotal moment, Frankly, we need change at both the federal and provincial level.”
Singh had made his announcement on social media Wednesday morning. In that post on the X platform, Singh stated: “The deal is done. The Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to stop the Conservatives and their plans to cut. But the NDP can. Big corporations and CEOs have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
Beck reiterated her reaction that it was “about time” for the supply and confidence arrangement to end.
“That reaction I don’t think will come as a surprise to anyone, not certainly to Jagmeet Singh who I’ve been having this conversation with for two years since I’ve been leader. In terms of timing, I didn’t control that. I didn’t control them entering the agreement. We are focussed on delivering change here in this province. As I said, people will have the chance to do that in October.”
The provincial NDP has had to deal with its own fallout from the federal Liberal-NDP deal for months now. The Sask Party government has frequently referred to the arrangement as a “Liberal-NDP coalition” and have repeatedly tried to tie the provincial NDP to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The provincial NDP has had to contend with federal policies unpopular in Saskatchewan such as the carbon tax, a policy the provincial party says it opposes.
Beck acknowledged the federal arrangement was something that came up on the doorsteps. But she said her number one focus is “here, on the people on Saskatchewan.”
As for whether this latest announcement from Singh could change the dynamics of the provincial scene, Beck said “I understand why Scott Moe’s looking for reasons to distract from his record, we see this all the time.”
“As I said, I have acknowledged, and been very aware, and share many of the frustrations that we hear on the doorstep with the federal government. I have shared those with leaders at all levels. But (what) I have said since day one is I will stand up and fight against any decision with any leader at the federal level when it does not benefit the people of this province, the people that I hope to serve as their Premier. And we will work with any federal leader, regardless of party, when there are federal decisions or programs that stand to benefit the people of this province. This is about results for Saskatchewan people, that has to be the North Star here. That doesn’t change anything. This doesn’t change anything for us.”
As for the Sask Party, the government issued their own statement on the news this afternoon, one which took a skeptical view of Singh’s intentions:
“Today’s announcement by the federal NDP leader is pretty meaningless unless he is prepared to actually vote against the Trudeau government and force an election, as most Canadians want him to do. There is no indication that Mr. Singh is going to do that. It’s past time for the NDP to support Canadians instead of supporting Trudeau.”