| Promise
made:
Before the election, the Sask. Party routinely criticized the NDP’s
Fiscal
Stabilization Fund as a “mountain of money” and said they would do away
with
what they called “political slush funds”. |
Promise
broken:
After the election, the Sask. Party created its very own Fiscal
Stabilization
Fund under a new name. |
| Promise
made:
Before the election, the Sask Party assured voters there was no need
for
essential services legislation. In reference to this, soon-to-be Health
Minister Don McMorris said, “I don’t think we need to go there at all.” |
Promise
broken:
After the election, the Sask. Party introduced essential services
legislation
under the guise of “public safety”. Since the legislation introduced
had
nothing to do with protecting public safety, the only promise fulfilled
in this
case was the Sask. Party plan to “go to war” with labour.
|
|
Promise
made:
Before the election, Brad Wall stood with Premier Calvert and the NDP
in
demanding a fair equalization deal from Ottawa.
|
Promise
broken: Bowing
to pressure from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Brad Wall has given
up the
fight for a fair deal only while Conservatives are in power. Refusing
to
release the legal opinions of the Equalization Court Challenge, Wall
declared
they may be useful in pressuring future non-Conservative governments on
the
same issue. |
| Promise
made:
Before the election, the Sask. Party said there had been “enough study”
on the
issue of property tax reform and claimed they would take immediate
action on
this file. |
Promise
broken:
After the election, the Sask. Party said the issue needed to be studied
for
another year and appointed Rosetown-Elrose MLA Jim Reiter as
Legislative
Secretary to oversee the consultations. However, Reiter himself has
said, “I
don’t know if there’s any earth-shaking revelation about to come out of
this
that no one has ever thought of before.” |
| Promise
made:
Before the election, the Sask. Party criticized the NDP for making
patronage
appointments and promised a new era of transparency and accountability
for
government. |
Promise
broken:
After the election, the Sask. Party fired career civil servants with no
connection to the NDP and made patronage appointments to Ministries,
Crowns, boards,
and agencies prompting the headline “Hypocrites?” in the Regina
Leader-Post. |
| Promise
made:
During the election campaign, Sask. Party candidate Darryl Hickie
published a
campaign brochure that declared, “a
vote for Darryl
is a vote for the mill open and people working.” |
Promise broken: After
ripping up a memorandum of understanding between the provincial
government and
Domtar, the people of Prince Albert have yet to
see their mill open or people working with Energy and Resources
Minister Bill
Boyd refusing to discuss timelines or where the government stands in
its
negotiations with Domtar. |
| Promise made: During
their time as Opposition, the Sask. Party repeatedly called on the NDP
government
to provide per-acre payments to drought-affected farmers and ranchers
in the
Southwest and claimed they would do the same if elected. |
Promise broken: The
Sask. Party government has refused to provide per-acre payments to
farmers in
the Southwest with Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud explaining, “In Opposition, as you know, I
could say just about
anything I wanted, and I did on a lot of occasions for 12 years."
|
| Promise
made: Before the
election, the Sask. Party promised to keep schools open and said
in
opposition that ‘Schools of Necessity’ would guard against children
spending
too much time on the bus and not enough time at school. |
Promise
broken: Education
Minister Ken Krawetz now
admits that the $1 million budgeted to prevent school closures won’t be
enough
to keep Schools of Opportunity open and when it comes to Schools of
Necessity,
he’s not even trying. |
| Promise
made: A
key plank of the Sask Party election platform was a promise to make
government
more transparent and accountable to the public. |
Promise
broken:
With the introduction of Bill 31 in the Spring 2008 session of the
Legislature,
the Sask Party attempted to raise the spending thresholds of government
that
would require no Cabinet approval and therefore no public disclosure -
effectively removing the transparency and accountability from their
government. |
