Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is endorsing Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party in the upcoming federal election.
Moe announced his support for Poilievre in an April 23 video post to social media, saying the Conservatives are the only party offering policies that will benefit Saskatchewan.
“Policies matter, policies that make our communities safer, that allow us to not only develop our resources, but then get them to market,” Moe said. “Policies that create good paying jobs and opportunities for Saskatchewan people today and into the future.”
He said only the Conservative Party has formulated policies that would guarantee Saskatchewan receives equitable treatment alongside other provinces within a “strongly united Canada.”
Moe also criticized the federal Liberals in the video, which was was shot in Moe’s hometown of Shellbrook, a town Moe described as being roughly 3,000 kilometres from Ottawa but said feels like it is “a million miles away.”
“That’s because we have had a federal government that has turned its back on this part of the country,” he said.
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Moe said that the Liberal government has made it more expensive to produce food, fuel, and fertilizer products in Saskatchewan.
“They’ve made it harder than for us to get those products to market. And when we’ve tried to work with them to take down those barriers, to build a stronger Saskatchewan within a strong and united Canada, they’ve turned their back,” he said.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney met with Canada’s first ministers on March 21 to discuss ways to explore strategies to establish a unified Canadian economy and reduce barriers to interprovincial trade.
At the time, Carney pledged to remove all federal provisions that factor into interprovincial trade barriers by Canada Day. In its election campaign, the Liberal Party said it would help farmers get their goods to market, including those in Saskatchewan.
“We will do this by extending the Extended Railway Interswitching pilot by three years,” the platform said of the measure designed to increase competition in the Canadian rail industry. The Liberals also promised to ensure non-Canadian railways would not be included.
Moe has also been calling on Ottawa to respond to tariffs imposed by China on products like canola, a crop that is largely grown in Saskatchewan.
“These tariffs, particularly from China, will disproportionately impact Saskatchewan and we urge the federal government to continue working with provinces to create an economically sound and reasoned response,” Moe said in a release.
China imposed 100 percent tariffs on canola oil, canola meal and pea imports in March in response to previous tariffs Canada imposed on China, including electric vehicles, steel and aluminum.
Ottawa has announced financial support to Canadian producers in light of the Chinese tariffs.
