The two talked about the most recent byelection, cost of living, housing and green energy.Earlier this month, two candidates with the NDP, one with the Sask. Party were congratulated on byelection victories. Summer byelections, not known for their turnouts, what was your sense of engagement in these?You’re right, we haven’t seen a byelection in August for 70 years, and there’s a reason for that.
When a government has the ability, when they’re sitting on record revenues, be it at the federal level or provincial level, and this is the number one issue by far that people are facing. I think that there is a responsibility placed on leadership to provide some relief to people, to understand what their concerns are and to do everything in their power to provide some relief for people, something that we didn’t see from this government over the last year.Housing is one of the key areas.
We’re not building enough houses. Houses are not affordable for people who need them. And this is contributing to this feeling, as I mentioned, that people have that they’re doing everything right. They’re working harder and harder and they are looking at the life that their parents had that they want for their kids, and feeling despair about it. I think all levels of government need to understand that’s where people are at.
We certainly do need to reduce emissions. There is opportunity in existing technology and also in the future, in renewables, in mining for precious minerals, for electric car batteries. I think that there is opportunity there. I think there’s responsibility for us to reduce emissions. I think we all want the future for our kids to include clean air, clean water and the ability to generate good jobs.
We understand we have a lot of work to do to build trust, but I hear people out there. They’re frustrated with this government. They are tired of divisive politics. They want to have a reason to hope again. I do think that there is amazing potential for this province. I do think that it’s been my great privilege to be able to go out and talk to people about not only their concerns but their dreams for the future.