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Campaign Gaffe-O-Meter

Natasha Tersigni
News Editor
John Cameron
Editor-in-Chief

Office Vandalism 
The office of Swift Current NDP candidate Aaron Ens was vandalized on Oct. 13. It was reported that a tire iron was thrown the window, which – all things considered – is pretty low on the vandalism scale (and, because it’s not so much a public slip-up as a rude way to say “hello,” low on the gaffe meter, too). The office, coincidentally, is located in Brad Wall’s riding, but so far no agitated Wall fanboys have come forward to confess.

Gaffe rating: 2 Jim Pankiws out of a possible 5

Greg Ottenbreit
The Yorkton-area Sask. Party incumbent was at a Yorkton Chamber of Commerce candidates’ forum on Oct. 19 when a question was asked about the NDP’s proposed resource revenue sharing agreement with First Nations groups, he replied, “What I have been told by some of my First Nations friends is that sometimes when there are handouts or the money comes free and easy, it can be used for alcohol and drugs.” Ill-advised!
Gaffe rating: 5 Pankiws

Splicing Comments
Early on in the campaign, the Sask. Party called out the NDP for splicing Brad Wall’s comments together. Then during the leaders’ debate, Brad burned Dwayne by calling him out for again splicing comments, this time during the debate. A strong lesson for those who would base their political ad campaigns on how they caught Homer in that Simpsons episode where he grabbed the Gummy de Milo off of the babysitter’s ass.
Gaffe rating: 3 Pankiws

Press releases
Since the writ dropped, the parties’ PR departments have been working overtime churning out press releases, including one sent by the NDP a whole nine minutes after the leaders debate, stating. “Link wins by sticking to issues that matter.” Even putting aside the fact that this was the last of four press releases sent out during the debate itself, and the fact that the NDP is probably not going to put out a press release crapping on their leader’s debate performance – wait, actually, don’t put those aside, those things are silly things.
Gaffe rating: 3 Pankiws

Promises made
Who's committed themselves to what

Tuition

Sask Party: Provide $2,000 over four years to all high school graduates for tuition costs through Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship; match 10% of RESPcontributions up $250 per child per year through Saskatchewan Advantage Grant Education

NDP: Implement a fully-funded freeze on tuition; provide funding for 100 graduate students bursaries annually at our universities to attract top graduate students.

Health care

Sask Party: Reduce surgical wait times to no more than three months by 2014; forgive student loans to attract doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners to practice in rural communities

NDP: Double the number of primary health care clinics over the next ten years; bring chiropractic careback into covered health services; increase access to midwifery services

Seniors

Sask Party: Increase the Seniors Income Plan by nearly $1,000 annually; introduce Seniors in Personal Care Home Benefit – a $3,000 annual benefit to low income seniors living in personal care homes

NDP: Add 750 new subsidized affordable  assisted living units; provide a property tax rebate of $500 per year to senior homeowners and renters

Housing

Sask Party: First Time Homeowners Tax Credit, saving first time homebuyers $1,000

NDP: Invest $20 million into cooperative and community organizations to buy land for housing

Public safety

Sask Party: Hire more police officers and target violent offenders

NDP: Provide first-time homebuyers a $2,000 grant; crack down on online child exploitation by funding additional staff and equipment for police

Highways/transport

Sask Party: Continue investment in improving Saskatchewan’s highways

NDP: Establish a Safe Rural Roads Fund to repair and upgrade secondary and grid roads

Disability funding

Sask Party: Increase benefits and access to the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability program; increase autism funding

NDP: Refundable tax credit of up to $1,000 per year to individuals providing care to elderly or disabled relatives or friends

Child care

Sask Party: Create 2,000 additional child care spaces over the next four years

NDP: Create 10,000 new early learning and child care spaces

 

Inevitable twitter sidebar!

@KyleAddison_
Really hard to focus on midterms with all the election excitement. Cant keep my mind off it. Writ period should be a prov holiday #skpoli
Wednesday, Oct. 19

@nickfaye
Free dental care? Free tuition (according to Link tonight)? All based on fluctuating/unstable potash revenue? I dont buy it #skvotes #debate
Tuesday, Oct. 25

@GarethPerry314
New election issue: Child-dental care. News to me. #skvotes
Tuesday, Oct. 25

@WaywardReporter
What are the two parties doing for Saskatchewan hipsters? Hipsters are our future seniors. #skvotes #skdb8

@mat_bennett
Rent control is going to save me $6,000 a year!! I only pay $6,000 in the first place! @linkndp #skvotes

@prairie4thunder
@PremierBradWall @linkndp buying more front line health care providers needs to be balanced with reducing admin excess #skpoli #skvotes

@tbeaudrymellor
Game changers:resignation of Link or stadium.Only two things I can think of that even qualify as poss. game changers at this stage #skvotes
Monday, Oct. 31

@markus_henry
my MLA eavesdropped on my conversation at starbucks. How do I know? She whispered “I’m trying to listen to this conversation.” #skvotes 😉

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