NDP leader takes aim at Sask Party's provincial autonomy meetings

NDP leader Carla Beck says the Sask Party government's provincial autonomy meetings will drive division and hurt the Sask Party's voter base.

“They are pandering to a smaller and smaller segment of the population,” she said. “Instead of showing leadership and decreasing those divisions and reducing fear, they are playing into it.”

Beck says the federal government is not addressing the concerns of some residents, “but I don’t see results for all of the swipes and nastiness on social media, we don’t see results.”

The meetings are invite-only from the MLA of the riding. The MLA invites people they think would be interested in the subject of provincial autonomy, according to James Parker, senior communications advisor for executive council and Office of the Premier.

According to Parker, the invite list could include ranchers, farmers and municipal and business leaders within the community.

The government’s caucus office organizes the meetings and covers the expenses.

Premier Scott Moe said in a public town hall earlier this month that his government wants something similar to the Canada-Quebec Accord Immigration agreement.

“Quebec has a number of special parameters when it comes how they allocate the numbers and what trades are prioritized for immigration,” he said. “Many other provinces would like to have equal input into our immigration numbers."

University of Regina political science professor Howard Leeson describes the current relationship between the Saskatchewan and federal governments as “quite bad.”

“Most of what comes from the premier seems to be very negative on a limited number of subjects,” he said.

When there is good cooperation between the two governments, Leeson says there isn’t praise.

“We don’t hear anything about that from the provincial government.”

The province declined an interview request regarding the provincial autonomy meetings.

Leeson says the government wants "to try and find out whether they should proceed with something like this without having to worry about whether or not the majority is opposed to it.”