'A lot of connection': Carla Beck reflects on first steps as Sask. NDP leader in 2022

Year-end interview with Carla Beck WATCH: Sask. NDP leader Carla Beck discusses 2022 and the year ahead with Morgan Campbell.

As 2022 comes to an end, Saskatchewan’s Leader of the Official Opposition is looking back at the issues and events that were at the forefront of provincial politics.

From health-care shortages to the rising cost of living and homelessness, 2022 was a year of problems having a widespread effect on the province as a whole.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck sat down with CTV News and reflected on a year that saw her assume the leadership of her party and work to expand the party’s reach in the face of a Sask. Party majority government.

CTV News Regina will air the full interview with NDP Leader Carla Beck on Dec. 29, 2022 at 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

VOTER OUTREACH

The Saskatchewan NDP embarked on a tour of the province following Beck’s successful leadership bid in June. A key objective for the organization was reaching new voters.

Of its 12 total seats, the Saskatchewan NDP maintains only one seat outside of Regina and Saskatoon, with Doyle Vermette serving as the MLA for the northern constituency of Cumberland since 2008.

Beck believes a narrative has been established that focuses on the differences between Saskatchewan’s various regions and communities. It’s a narrative that the NDP is looking to change, she told CTV News.

“There's a lot of invitation to talk about the ways that were divided. I see a lot of connection,” Beck said.

“Since becoming a leader, we've put a lot of focus on outreach, and going out and connecting with people on those shared values that exist in rural areas, exist in the city, exist in the north and in the south. That sense of Saskatchewan that I grew up with.”

With the party’s effort in outreach, Beck maintains that more voters who want change are seeing the NDP as a viable option.

“More and more, we're hearing from people who are, giving us a second look, thinking that they're looking for a change,” she said.

“They want to know that we can act on those values that we still share those values that brought them to the NDP in the first place. And as I said, it's been very encouraging.”

HEALTH CARE WOES

Even with COVID-19 moving to the background, its effects are still being felt across Saskatchewan’s health-care system.

Service outages, staff burnout and a shortage of new workers can all be connected to the stresses the system underwent during the two years of the pandemic.

Beck told CTV News that the health sector is not receiving the help it desperately needs and the lack of support is adding to frustrations.

“A lot of health-care workers tell us, there's a real sense of disrespect. They feel like they're not being heard by the provincial government, and we [saw] evidence of that right across the province this summer,” she said.

“We saw 37 different communities that at one time had either closures of their local hospital or service disruptions. We've recently learned through the provincial auditor's report that year over year we've actually lost 600 health care workers from the province.”

“Certainly people can see evidence of that in rural areas, also in urban areas,” she added.

Beck went on to say that an issue such as healthcare should not be impeded by partisan politics.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue that faces families in the north, in the south, regardless of socio economics,” she said.

“We've called for an all party committee, to bring the experts, to bring their family members to the table and build a strategy to start addressing mental health concerns.”

A CRISIS OF AFFORDABILITY

As inflation rose over the course of 2022, affordability measures were a common topic of discussion and debate at the legislature.

The Official Opposition repeatedly called for the government to use increased revenues from resource prices to aid Saskatchewan residents. The requests came as prices of fuel, groceries and other necessities continued to rise throughout the year.

“We had a lot of criticism about a government that was sitting on $2 billion of windfall resource revenue that chose to, in the middle of this 40 year affordability crisis, increase fees and taxes on people in the province 32 times,” she said.

“Further in the middle of the summer we saw rate increases to SaskPower [at] eight per cent, 23 per cent to SaskEnergy. [This was] at a time when we saw other governments in the country, in some cases governments that weren't sitting on that windfall revenue, delivering affordability measures.”

Beck said the rollout of the $500 affordability cheques by the province at the end of the year was well received, but the support was not sustained and was not targeted to those especially in need.

“I know those checks are welcome … We've heard a lot of people are paying down bills, paying debt, watching their mailbox every day for those checks. Saskatchewan has the highest rate of inflation and groceries in the whole country. But it's a one time measure,” she said.

“The other concern is around the fact that there were no targeted measures for seniors on fixed incomes, who really are struggling at this time … and no measure for children, something we've seen other governments do. We didn't see that happen here.”

WITHOUT A HOUSE, OR A HOME

Also connected to the affordability debate, was government action on homelessness as the harsh Saskatchewan winter had an early start in the year.

This led to added danger for those on the street, without permanent lodging.

“In Regina, for example … 700 housing units are sitting empty, at a time when people are finding themselves homeless across the province, that number is 3,000,” Beck told CTV News.

The opposition leader said that going forward, the government must develop a housing strategy to ensure the issue of homelessness isn’t exacerbated.

“We've got a government that has a plan to grow the population and certainly that's an important goal. We've also heard that there needs to be an adjacent strategy around housing across the spectrum, certainly on the more affordable end of things to new home construction,” she said.

However, Beck said progress can only be made once the government gives the proper attention to the issue of homelessness.

“We can't address problems that we don't acknowledge exist and this is something that the government has not seem[ed] to want to focus on at all,” she said.

“This is a government that's been talking about how great their bottom line is, how they talk about growth that works for everyone. There's a real sense that some of that resource wealth in this province, should be benefiting people.”

SOLUTIONS OVER FINGER POINTING

Beck told CTV News that while touring the province, a single point was brought up from across Saskatchewan: Work together.

“I'm hearing from a lot of people that want leaders to get to the table. They don't want yelling on social media or the polarization. They want to see their leaders at the table actually trying to find solutions instead of pointing fingers,” she said.

“I think this is exactly the kind of issue, exactly the kind of proposition that puts into focus what we could do if we chose to be those kinds of leaders.”