With the choice for many voters in Saskatchewan's election coming down to the question of whether the Saskatchewan Party's claim not to have cuts or fee hikes in the works can be believed, it's worth noting that it hasn't managed to live up to that standard even within the campaign itself.
Within an election period in which access to home care is a major issue, we've learned that the cost of existing care is being hiked by hundreds of dollars for seniors without money to spare. (And the closest there is to an excuse is the concept that the province is once again trying to ensure that it, rather than citizens, takes the benefit of any increase in available federal support.)
While Scott Moe has made spurious claims about future taxes, one of his cabinet ministers has opened the door to road tolling - and even Moe's initial response was to signal a willingness to discuss the idea if somebody else were to bring it up. (That's hardly reassuring given the track record of privatized tolling schemes as a corporate cash cow.)
And most damningly, in the middle of a pandemic, the provincial government seems to have decided to scrap its previous measures to ensure that homeless people can be isolated while being screened for COVID-19 - needlessly risking the health of everybody involved in providing shelter to the people who need it most.
Needless to say, if this is what Moe's government does when it's trying to look presentable to voters, we can expect a new term in office to make the 2017 bloodbath budget look like a mere paper cut. And voters shouldn't fall for the trap of giving the benefit of the doubt to a government which continues to demonstrate its lack of interest in good governance.
[Edit: fixed typos.]
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