Alec Salloum
Regina Leader-Post
A day after campaigning officially started for Saskatchewan’s general election, a pair of political parties made their first announcements in Regina.
The Saskatchewan United Party (SUP) and the Saskatchewan Buffalo Party both held events on Wednesday as the two right-of-centre parties vie for votes.
A party platform was unveiled by SUP Leader Jon Hromek, speaking at the Hotel Saskatchewan alongside several candidates.
So far, the SUP has announced 23 candidates but Hromek said there are more coming, with an aim to reach 35 for this election.
“Our target is to win two seats plus,” he said. “Of course, we want to win as many as we can.”
During a 2023 byelection in Lumsden-Morse, Hromek came in second to the governing Sask. Party’s Blaine McLeod with 22.7 per cent of the vote. Hromek had 35 more votes than the third-place NDP candidate, Kaitlyn Stadnyk.
“We need an Opposition on the right to come in and be looking at (that role) from a different perspective,” said Hromek, who positions his party as decidedly to the right of the Sask. Party.
Hromek’s platform includes adjusting potash royalties, continuing to burn coal past 2050, cutting PST to three per cent, an outright elimination of the provincial gas tax, opening up more privatization in health care, and a 65-per-cent discount to seniors on property tax.
Hromek said his party would make sure schools taught “an accurate representation of history” and “remove ideology” in the curriculum to ensure schools are “places of learning, not forums for activism and indoctrination.”
Asked what he meant by an accurate representation of history, Hromek said “history’s history. There’s been mistakes that have been made. There’s been good things that have been done. Don’t apologize for it.”
As for indoctrination in schools, Hromek said that comes down to “social issues,” voicing support for parents who opt out of certain discussions like sex-ed and “genders.”
From the steps of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, Buffalo Party Leader Phillip Zajac announced his party’s plan to create a new government portfolio — the Ministry of Seniors and Veterans Affairs.
Zajac also committed to bringing back the Saskatchewan Transportation Company — the province’s bus service that was shuttered in 2017.
The provincial election is set to conclude on Oct. 28, with six days of voting between Oct. 22 and 28.
