SASKATCHEWAN VOTES ON OCTOBER 28!

What must parties offer to help people of all ages thrive?

We have a chance this election to ask for a Saskatchewan that promotes wellbeing for young and old alike — and our recommendations point the way. We think it’s time to ask all parties to act as wise stewards today, and good ancestors to those who follow in our footsteps.

We envision a Saskatchewan that works for all generations and invests wisely in wellbeing from the early years onwards. That vision should serve as the north star for any party asking for your vote. 

Any party seeking to lead Saskatchewan will have to tackle some thorny intergenerational tensions. Our Good Ancestor Election Platform highlights five that are likely top of mind for voters: housing, medical care, child care, the carbon tax, and deficits. Plus two more, which we think should be top of mind: whether parties are committing to treat all generations fairly, and whether they are living up to the intergenerational golden rule.

Don’t forget to share our recommendations — and ask your local candidates if they will promise to be good ancestors. Together, we can elect a government committed to building a Saskatchewan that works for every generation.

Good Ancestor Election Platform Recommendations

★ Build a Saskatchewan that’s fair for all generations

It’s time for all parties to put generational fairness at the heart of their election platforms.

We're calling on all party leaders to commit to An Act to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Present and Future Generations. Enshrining this promise in legislation will ensure our province follows through on the commitment to be good ancestors.

★ Commit to stalling home prices 

We can’t solve housing unaffordability until we are clear about when the housing market is healthy, and when it is not. 

Industry and media too often portray the housing market as ‘strong’ when prices rise and ‘weak’ when they stall. These labels only make sense if we view housing primarily as an investment — not a place to call home. But too many Canadians, especially younger folks, are unable to afford homes as owners or renters. That’s why we need all parties to commit to the goal of having home prices stall, to begin to reconnect the cost of purchasing or renting a home with the earnings we make from our hard work.

Allowing residential real estate to absorb a growing share of our gross domestic product (GDP) is not a marker of a strong economy. Productivity is driven by investment in machinery, equipment and intellectual property, not by borrowing to bid up the price of already-built homes (check out Alberta Central’s comparisons of US and Canadian investment patterns since the late 2000s). So long as Canada’s cultural addiction to investing in existing residential real estate drains investment from other industries, we can expect per capita GDP to remain near the bottom of developed countries.

★ Reduce pressures on medical care by investing where health begins

Health depends far more on the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work and age than on the medical care we receive. Yet political leaders continue to devote more tax dollars to medical care than to the social supports that create lifelong wellbeing. 

Parties should commit to investing more urgently in the building blocks of a healthy society — like affordable housing and a clean environment. We already have more doctors than ever before. It’s time to start focusing on reducing the number of patients to improve access and reduce burn-out.

★ Continue Saskatchewan’s leadership on building an affordable child care system

With living costs on the rise, life is getting harder for many families. So let’s all applaud Saskatchewan for lowering child care fees to a maximum of $10/day, and achieving this goal well ahead of schedule! This is a big step forward in making sure child care doesn’t cost Saskatchewan families another rent or mortgage sized payment. Other provinces should take note, and follow this example.

Saskatchewan can continue to lead the way by having all party leaders commit to two important next steps. First, eliminating child care fees for low-income families, to ensure no child or family is left out of high-quality care. Second, delivering fair wages for child care workers, so that the province can attract and keep the number needed to deliver this essential service to all families. Recent wage guidelines recommend paying child care professionals $30-40/hour.

★ Take responsibility for our messes by paying for pollution

We pay for our pollution because our kids and grandkids are counting on us to leave them a habitable and healthy planet. And we betray them if we don’t.

We pay for our pollution because it’s a deep-seated family value that when we make a mess, we should help clean it up. And there’s no denying that generations of Canadians from coast to coast to coast, including in Saskatchewan, have made a mess of our air, water and soils with our pollution — making our provinces less safe for our kids.

That’s why all parties must commit to sustaining (and growing) the carbon tax. The pain of inflation is real. But for every dollar we spend on major living costs, the price on pollution adds less than one penny. Carbon pricing isn’t a big driver of inflation, so let’s push our politicians to deliver real affordability solutions that address issues like the high cost of housing and post-secondary education.

Of course, Canadian families shouldn’t stand alone when it comes to paying for pollution. Business and industry need to step up too, especially big emitters who aren’t yet paying their fair share. But if we don't pay for our pollution now, we burden future generations with paying even more later. That’s not what good ancestors do.

★ Put Saskatchewan on a more solid economic footing by closing the gap between revenue and spending

This election, all political parties are facing a reckoning. Like jurisdictions across Canada, Saskatchewan has fewer tax-paying workers to support a growing group of retirees. The predictable result is growing deficits. The March 2024 Budget reported “record” program spending, alongside no increases to provincial taxes. This plan yielded a deficit of $273 million — a forecast that has since increased to $354 million.

A key driver of provincial deficits across Canada is rising medical costs. This cost pressure is a byproduct of the aging of the population, since those over age 65 use the majority of medical care. Since the province didn’t plan in advance to collect enough revenue to cover these cost increases, data indicate that provincial taxes would need to be raised by 16% over the coming decades to make up for this looming fiscal liability.

This election, Saskatchewan voters should insist that all parties put forward a realistic plan to pay for the medical care expected by the aging population — without leaving large deficits to their kids and grandchildren. Good ancestors don’t kick their unpaid bills down the road for younger and future generations to cover.

This means going beyond cosmetic cuts to things people love to hate, because the scale of the problem exceeds savings from paring back the public service or cutting programs addressing gender identity. We need comprehensive solutions to ensure that we’re not mortgaging our province's future.

★ Protect wellbeing for young and old alike

Securing healthy retirements and healthy childhoods means making sure what we consume today doesn’t risk harming those who follow us. It’s unfair for any generation to use up more than its fair share of shared resources, leaving others with greater scarcity and fewer choices.

Yet this is the path we’re on. Excess pollution contributes to unnatural heat and flooding, making life more unaffordable. Rising home prices generate excess wealth for many (often older) homeowners, pushing housing out of reach for too many younger people. Our aging population means higher medical care bills, leaving little room for governments to invest in the services and supports that could help reverse younger people’s deteriorating wellbeing.

That’s why it’s urgent for all parties to commit to designing policies that uphold the intergenerational golden rule: to treat other generations as we want our own to be treated.