Meili undeterred by polls, says he's 'in it to win it'

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Ryan Meili says recent polls will not shift his focus from trying to win the election.

"We have a bad government right now. Scott Moe is not good at his job. We need a premier that's ready to work with the people of Saskatchewan and make the right choices. For me to not be in it to win it would be irresponsible," Meili said Thursday.

An Angus Reid Institute poll released Thursday indicated the Sask. Party held a 27-point lead over the NDP. Sixty per cent of the people in the survey said they planned to vote for the Sask. Party, versus 33 per cent for the NDP.

The poll is in line with other pre-election polls and closely mirrors the election results in both 2011 and 2016.

The NDP went into the campaign holding 13 of 61 seats in the legislature. 

In 2016, the Saskatchewan Party won 36 of its 51 seats with more than 60 per cent of the vote in the riding and swept southern and central Saskatchewan.

The NDP has not spent much of its campaign in these constituencies, focusing instead on Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw, where races are expected to be closer.

On Thursday, Meili made announcements in downtown Regina in the morning and Moose Jaw in the afternoon. Moe made a campaign announcement in Moose Jaw on Thursday morning.

"It is absolutely our job to make it clear that nobody has voted yet. The election is not over. It is still possible for people to have the change they want," Meili said.

Both parties have only a few days left to convince voters. Advance polls begin on Tuesday, Oct. 20 and run through Saturday, Oct. 24.

Thursday was the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot.

Parties spar on spending

One of the "new" issues to emerge from Wednesday night's leaders' debate was the claim by Moe that the NDP has $4 billion of uncosted spending in its platform.

"The NDP platform failed to account for $4 billion in new spending that will drive up the deficit," Moe said Thursday.

The Sask. Party said this $4 billion was not part of its initial $2.7 billion in new spending outlined in the NDP platform.

The NDP spending commitments the Sask. Party used to get to the $4 billion figure include mental health emergency rooms, a surgical care centre in Regina and a new Prince Albert bridge.

The Sask, Party said the NDP claim that projects will be funded using the money within the existing SaskBuilds capital plan is false, because $778 million of the $1.3 billion has already been allocated.

It said the NDP would need to cancel projects that have money already committed, including schools, long-term care centres and the $350,000 of the first phase of the province's $4 billion irrigation project. It said that in 2016, the NDP included capital infrastructure spending in its platform.

Meili accused the Sask. Party of "spinning our numbers in a crooked way." He said his opponents were applying a "different standard" to the NDP numbers than their own.

"Scott Moe is making up numbers. We have costed our platform and we're fully confident in the numbers we've put forward."

The Sask. Party has a total of $849 million in new spending in its platform. This does not include $7.5 billion in spending announced earlier this year.

The Moe government announced $5.5 billion in its March spending estimates and an additional $2.0 billion was added in May as an "economic booster shot" in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.