Home › News › Speeches › Convention 2006 Address

Convention 2006 Address

By Premier Lorne Calvert

Delegates, Chiefs, Elders, Friends and Members of Media:

Thank you! Greetings from the “not tall at all” Premier! Did you see those letters to the editor in the Leader Post from the 10 year olds at Ruth M. Buck School? Now if only I could get Murray and Randy to write like that!

On Behalf of the hardest working caucus in Canada, welcome to the 2006 annual convention of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party!

Welcome to the convention of the Party that knows where it has come from, knows where it is and knows where it is going!

A special welcome today to the FSIN newly elected Vice Chief Lyle Whitefish. Also I would like to welcome former FSIN Chief Delbert Wapass.

I would also like to extend a special welcome to all the First Nations people here with us today. For over the past three years you have welcomed me on to more than 50 of your first nations; you have welcome me and many of us to Pow Wow’s; You have honoured our Legislature with a pipe Ceremony and presentation of mace runner and cushion.

Last night we were moved by the power of the Saskatchewan Native Theater company and the dancers and singers from across the province.

Today we are honoured to welcome you to our convention. Tansi. Welcome.

So delegates, do you feel the energy in this room?

I haven’t felt energy like this since those few weeks ago when I sat in the centre o Mosaic Stadium at Taylor field, with my wife Betty on one side, Academy Best Actress Charlize Theron on the other side with the Rolling Stones in front of us and 40,000 rock and roll fans around us!

I haven’t sensed this kind of determination to win since the determination I felt across Saskatchewan, when Ralph Klein and the Calgary Stampeders told us that Gainer wasn’t welcome at McMahon Stadium!

And I don’t expect to feel this kind of energy again until next week when the U of S Huskies win the Vanier Cup!

At this convention we have come from virtually every walk of life, from every region of our province; we have more delegates, more first time delegates and more young delegates in this convention than we have seen for many years!

This is a tangible energy in this room.
Friends, let me begin today by speaking of three young New Democrats, three energetic New Democrats whose role among will change in the future.

Will you recognize and thank with me three of our colleagues who will not be running in the next election:

Myron Kowalsky, our Speaker, advocate of parliamentary democracy, teacher of children and adults, the member from Prince Albert Carlton. Myron, our thanks!

Joanne Crofford, our drummer who marches to the beat of her own drum and who on occasion has had the entire government of Saskatchewan marching with her. Joanne, the member of Regina Rosemont, our thanks!

And Peter Prebble, our conscience, the longest serving member, friend of children, friend of the environment and the conscience of a province. Peter, member of Saskatoon Greystone, our thanks!

Now let me say, there is more energy in any one of these New Democrats than the whole Sask. Party Caucus put together!

There is an energy in this room that reflects the energy of our province.

There is an economic energy in this province that did not exist five years ago.

We are a “have” province.

Yesterday, as you worked here at convention, I was sitting next to Brad Wall as we brought greeting to the 35th Anniversary of the CFIB.

Yesterday I was able to show Mr. Brad Wall Something that never saw the whole time he worked in the Devine government.

This, Mr. Wall, is a credit rating upgrade delivered yesterday to the people of Saskatchewan by the Dominion Bond Rating Service of Canada.

As of yesterday we have now earned ourselves 16 consecutive credit rating upgrades since 1995 and six in the last five years.

Headline after headline tell the tale:

Our retails sales are up

Our exports are up,

Our manufacturing shipments are up,

Our housing stats are up,

Our communities are growing,

Young families are coming home,

Our schools are bursting at the seams,

Our first nations and Métis communities are seizing economic opportunities like never before.

There is an economic energy in our province that is unparalleled in our history.

And what does it result in?

It results in the banner headline of the Regina Leader Post on November 4, 2006;

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

21,800 more jobs in October of this year compared to last.

Part time jobs going down, fulltime jobs going up!

More young people got up this morning and went to a full time job than ever before in Saskatchewan’s history.

This is an economy with energy.

This is a green and prosperous economy.

This is a promise made and a promise kept.

But it is not only our economy that has energy.

There is a new creative and innovative energy in our province.
Ours is a province with the creative energy to provide the only venue on the globe that hosts not one but two shows for the Rolling Stones.

Ours is a province with creative energy that simultaneously produces The Englishman’s Boy, Tyler Lewis and Corner Gas.

Our is the province, the only province ever to do so, that next year will host an Aboriginal Showcase in Prince Albert, The Juno’s in Saskatoon, the Western Canadian Music Awards in Moose Jaw and the Canadian Country Music Week in Regina.


It is a province with innovative energy to build a synchrotron, pioneer the technology of clean coal generation, and prototype for the world carbon dioxide sequestration.

The energy in this room is the energy of our province, the energy of our people, and the energy of our youth.

Feel the energy!

And fellow New Democrats, this is a caucus; this is a government with energy!

You know, every time I hear the leader of the Sask. Party speak, I hear him repeat the worn out political rhetoric that you hear from every conservative opposition politician in the country. He says our Party and our government is “Old and Tired”

Well I am here to tell him, to tell the people of Saskatchewan that this is a Party and this government is not old and tired but bold and inspired!

This is a Party with the energy to win majority in the next provincial election.
Never underestimate the energy of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party!

And do not underestimate the resolve of the energy of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party make life better for people.

We have set out bold vision for the people and province of Saskatchewan.

Our is a vision of a province where no one is left behind on the road to opportunity, a province with an unbreakable social fabric founded on a green and prosperous economy in diverse and growing communities.

From that vision we have taken our focus this fall to make life better for today’s families and to build a future for our young people right here.

To move us toward of vision and to bring tangible results from our focus we have set out four cornerstones of action.

The first cornerstone of action is to build that better future for our young people right here.

To this end we have established a total review of access to post-secondary education in our Province. We are working with student unions, student bodies, individual students and their families and our institutions of post-secondary education to explore the barriers to access and remedies to help where barriers exist.

Our principle in this review is that access to education should primarily be determined by the student’s ability to think and learn and not her ability to pay!

We have listened to our young new democrats and have frozen tuition fees at our universities for three years.

Come the New Year our government will host Saskatchewan’s first Youth Summit drawing together young people form every region of our province to hear their voice in building a better future for young people here.

This Youth Summit had its genesis among young New Democrats, some of whom are here today. I can tell you that if it were not for the vision and determination of these young women and men there would not be a Saskatchewan Youth Summit on our near horizon. Delegates you should thank the Saskatchewan Young New Democrats for their persistence!

This week our government announced this single most significant investment in skill training and education in the history of our province.

From our surplus we are investing a new $53 million dollars in our young people.

The new dollars will provide new equipment, new mobile classrooms, new capital investments in post-secondary education. These new dollars will create, in the next few months, over 2,500 new training spaces for young people in our province. With the new training space provided for in our spring budget we will this year alone crate training places for over 5,000 more young people.

These new opportunities will be created in every region of our province, from the far north to the deep south, rural and urban, bringing the learner, teacher and the employer closer together.

These new opportunities will create real training for real jobs in our economy today.
To ensure that this is the case I am please to announce to you today we have introduced legislation to create a Saskatchewan Labour Market Commission, bringing labour, business and our educational institutions to one table to plan our labour market future.

This remarkable achievement is the result of the co-operation of the leadership of our post-secondary institutions, the co-operations of Holly Heatherington and the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, and the driving force of President Larry Hubic and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour.


And further delegates I am please to report you today that our Party in government is doing what no other government in this province has ever done and perhaps no other government in Canada.

We are breaking down the jurisdiction barriers that have prevented full partnership between the province and aboriginal people in the skills training of the aboriginal youth of our province.

Our aboriginal young people are the future of First Nations and Métis communities, there are intimately liked to the future of our economy, our communities, our society and our province.

Their success will be Saskatchewan’s success.
Responsibility for the skills training and education of First Nations students is the responsibility of the Federal Government. That does not change.

But while successive provincial and federal governments have argued jurisdiction our First Nation’s youth people have been left behind.

From my point of view this circumstance is not tolerable.

While Stephen Harper reneges on our Labour Market Development agreements, while successive Federal governments drag their feet; New Democrats in Saskatchewan will wait no longer!

We are breaking down the jurisdictional barriers. This year, for the first time in history, we are partnering directly with the Saskatchewan Institute of Indian Technologies to provide provincial dollars for training on and off reserve.

Senator Roland Crowe, Former Chief of FSIN said at our joint announcement on Wednesday, that he and his people have worked 30 years for this day.

I am proud of the work being done by First Nations and Métis people and their leadership.

I am proud to lead a Party and a government that will partner with them.

And we announced one other initiative this week. We have created a Saskatchewan jobs website, Saskjob.ca, where we bring, at no charge, job seekers and employer together.

We are soon to launch a major campaign, around this service, to ensure that our young people and their families are fully aware of the opportunities in our province.

I want our young people and their families to know that the future of our province is wide open and their future can be here.

Whatever their career choice, whatever their dream, I want them to know their future is here!

And beyond this in the New Year, we are taking this same message to downtown Alberta!

We are going to speak directly to the young people and families whose home is Alberta today and tell them about their potential future in Saskatchewan.

In a province where our mountain removal project was completed many years ago.

In a province of 100,000 lakes, a province of wide open land and rich forest.

In a province with boundless opportunities today and even more opportunities tomorrow.

In a province that values working together, where values of community unite us.

In a family-friendly province where we don’t charge their family a premium for their health care, where they can afford to own and drive a car, where they have the opportunity to own a home all by the age of 30 and where they can enjoy lowest cost bundle of utilities.

Our fist cornerstone of actions is to make this the best place for young people to learn, grow, and make their future.

Ours is the Party in government with the energy to make it happen!

Our second cornerstone of actions this year is in healthcare.

Again, I remind you, we are the only province in Canada that does not charge its families a premium for their healthcare.

And again I commit to you that this New Democratic Party government will stand firm on the principles of universally accessible, publicly funded and administered Medicare!

We have committed to improving access to services.

We have committed with real dollars and partnerships with front line providers to building mechanisms to recruit and retain healthcare providers.

We have committed to enhancing our ability to welcome foreign trained healthcare providers.

To improving our ability to train our young people careers in healthcare.

We have committed to further progress this year to creating a Children’s Hospital within a hospital here in Saskatoon.

And we have committed to improving in this year health services to our elders and seniors! Our Party is the one who had the energy to pioneer Medicare.

And in spite of the attacks form the conservative right in our nation and in our province. Ours is the Party in government that has the energy to preserve, sustain and enhance publicly funded and administered Medicare for our elders, for children and for their children.

You can feel the energy we have for this task.

Our third cornerstone of action toward our vision and goal is environmental sustainability.

We have set out a vision of a green and prosperous economy because the prosperous economy of tomorrow will be a green economy.

Our children and our young who will inherit this land, Turtle Island, from us are demanding no less.

Here in the heart of the continent, we have the opportunity to lead our nations, lead our continent and lead globally in an economy of green energy.

Five years ago, there was not one utility wind tower in Saskatchewan.

Today, there is more wind generated electricity per capita than anywhere else in Canada and we have only begun to harvest the awesome power of the wind.

We are pioneering the technology of clean coal generation, to meet our own demands and to develop the technology marketable to the globe.

We are pioneering in polygeneration.

We are pioneering in bio-fuels, the first jurisdiction in Canada to mandate the use of ethanol. Our potential in bio-diesel and bio-mass is immense and we are building the opportunities today.

We are pioneering in hydrogen technologies.

We have only begun to tap the power of solar energy in the sunniest province in Canada.

We are leading globally in the technology of deep carbon dioxide sequestration, returning to the earth that carbon that is warming the globe and threatens our very future. This technology from Weyburn Saskatchewan may well prove to be one of our greatest gifts to humankind.

And more, we await the work of Peter Prebble, whose work will lead us in energy conservation and toward the visionary goal that we have established: that within a generation fully one-third of all our energy needs will come from renewable energy.

As we continue to power the province, the nation and communities across the globe with our vast conventional energy resources.

Our vision is that Saskatchewan will be this century’s continental giant in clean, renewable and sustainable energy.

We have the people, we have the resources, we have innovators and we have the energy to make it happen!

Our fourth cornerstone of action is to make life better for today’s Saskatchewan families in a very tangible and meaningful ways.

We believe there is no social progress without economic progress but what differentiates us from the rest is that we equally believe there should be no economic progress that does not result in social progress.

So let me talk about social progress achieved in just the past few months, weeks and days.

In our spring budget the single largest increase to social assistance rates in the past twenty years.

This past week we have added significant new resources in community policing, in programs to stabilize, treat and reintegrate children being sexually abused on our streets.

And let me say this,

No matter what the pressure from the Sask. Party and their critics, this government will not abandon the principle of partnership with First Nations and Métis people in their right to be fully involved in the care of their children.

Real benefits for today’s families mean better occupational health and safety for our workers and it means our commitment to continue progress on the recommendations of the report on vulnerable workers.

Real benefits for today’s families mean continuing our expansion of early learning and childcare opportunities in spite of the Harper government’s withdrawal.

Real benefits for today’s families means the largest investment ever made in our highways by twinning our highways and building roads in our north and roads to reserves.

Real benefits for today’s farming families means committing to our full funding of CAIS.

Real benefits for today’s families mean investing in cultural and recreational infrastructure and investing in schools and hospitals.

Real benefits for today’s families means indexing income tax brackets this week to ensure wage earners and seniors are not seeing their benefits erode.

Real benefits for today’s families means a two point reduction in the provincial sales tax.

And real benefits for ordinary families means a Family Day Holiday in the long days between New Years and Easter. It means a province with more stat holidays than any other province in Canada and a province where there are no exclusions of workers who receive stat holiday benefits.

We are taking energy of our economy and ensuring the social progress we desire is being achieved and ensuring that today’s families are benefiting from the economy we have built.

New Democrats have the vision, the focus, and the energy to make life better for ordinary people in Saskatchewan.

And New Democrats in government have the energy to stand up for Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan people.

Saskatchewan New Democrats will stand up for the principles of the Kelowna Accord signed with Aboriginal Peoples of Canada as the Conservative Government in Ottawa tears it up.

Saskatchewan New Democrats will stand up to Ottawa as they tear away the literacy funding to our neighbourhoods and families.

And Saskatchewan New Democrats will stand up for a fair equalization formula to protect our non-renewable natural resources and we will fight for the Prime Minister of Canada and his 12 Members of Parliament from Saskatchewan to keep his promise to the people of Saskatchewan.

And you can count on Saskatchewan New Democrats to stand up for the democratic right of our producers to choose the future of the Canadian Wheat Board.

If the Conservatives persist in denying that democratic right of Saskatchewan farm families, we and the New Democratic Party Government of Manitoba, will give our producers that right through a plebesite of our own!!!

We have the energy in this room to do it!!

We will stand up for Saskatchewan!

There is energy in our Party, there is energy in our economy, there is energy in our province, there is energy in our youth and energy in our people. The only place I do not see energy in this province is in the ranks of the Saskatchewan Party.

Now friends there are some things I know fair bit about and there are things I know nothing and some things I know a lot about.

One of those things I know a lot about is the care and maintenance of old school buses converted to campers.

And if you don’t believe me, you can ask our daughter Stephanie who is with us this afternoon and who has been under the bus with me on many occasions.

You can ask my wife Betty who has been subjected to more Chevy Chase Summer Vacations than any women should ever have to bear.
I believe it is fair to say that the combination of my buses and half-tons have I’ve broken down in more Saskatchewan communities than Brad Wall has ever visited.

So I know a lot about running out of gas and batteries going dead.

And that is precisely what is happening today to the Saskatchewan Party.

About the day of the Weyburn by-election their support peaked. It has been downhill everyday since.

I have here the most recent polling information from Environics, from a poll taken between September 18 and October 12 before our focused agenda of this fall.

I quote from Environics conclusion:

“Support for the Saskatchewan Party has declined sharply, while that for the governing NDP and third place Liberals has rebounded.”

Oh, they are still ahead of us on the road but they are running out of gas and the battery is going dead.

And is it any wonder the lights are going out over there?
Their past, their record, their time in government, which they so desperately seek to hide from, is coming back to haunt them on a daily basis.

They have no consistent vision or policy or at least vision or policy they are willing to share.

One day they try to sound like social democrats, one day they try to sound like liberals, the next day they try to sound like fiscal conservatives.

Well, no matter how many slick tax-payer funded ads you run, you can’t fool Saskatchewan people. They are right-wing, reform-conservative Party whose sole objective is to seize power and they will say or do anything to achieve their goal.

We are government that works for Saskatchewan people.

They are an opposition that works only for the Saskatchewan Party.

Is there any wonder they are running out of gas?

Is there any wonder when just two days ago, with the exception of one, they stood in our Legislature and voted against the Canadian Wheat Board and the democratic right of farmers to choose.

Is there any wonder when now, that their Conservative cousins are in Ottawa, they tell us to be patient when it comes to fair deal on equalization.

Is there any wonder, when last week Brad Wall announces with some fanfare that he and his finance critic are going to meet with the Federal Minister of Finance and oh boy, they’re going to make the case for equalization.

Well what happened?

Well, I’m told the meeting consisted of the two of them paying their seventy-five dollars each, to attend a Conservative Party fundraiser in a Regina Hotel so they could be introduced to the Federal Minister over the cocktail hour.

Some meeting and the result…nothing!

Is there any wonder the polls are doing what they are doing? Is there any wonder the Sask. Party desperately wants an election now and will do virtually anything to engineer it before they plummet further?

Is there any wonder the battery is going dead, when we pick up the Star Phoenix this week to read the following letter from a Saskatchewan resident who had a chance hear Brad Wall speak at a farewell dinner for Ralph Klein in Calgary?

This is what Jim Baker of Flaxcombe Saskatchewan wrote to the Star Phoenix:

“Along with my partner who works for a large oil and gas company in Calgary, I recently attended a “welcome back” event for Ralph Klein in the Alberta city. It was interesting to hear Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall’s lavish thank you to “King Ralph.” As I stood there, a question kept running through my mind: why would Wall publicly be thanking the ex-premier of Albert for “what he has done for Saskatchewan?” I truly felt embarrassed”

Mr. Baker should not be the only one embarrassed. The Saskatchewan Party should be embarrassed. The province is embarrassed.


What the families of Saskatchewan don’t need is an apologist for Stephen Harper. What the families of Saskatchewan don’t need is an agent for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. What the families of Saskatchewan don’t need is a student of the Grant Devine School of economics.

What the families of Saskatchewan don’t need is another right-wing, reform conservative government.





What the families of Saskatchewan deserve is a political party in government that places their interests first, that will stand up for Saskatchewan, a political party in government with a vision, with a focus and the energy to make life better for today’s families and build a better future for our young people!

That political party is the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party.

With the energy we have accomplished much in the past five years but friends, there is so much more to do.


Just several weeks ago Andy Iwanchuk and I met with Carey Rigby-Wilcox, a young mother of four. We met to present to her the Council of the Federation’s Literacy Award. One award presented by each Premier in Canada. We presented the award to Carey Rigby-Wilcox for what she had done for herself and for others in learning to read.

Here’s a part of her story as she tells it.

She says, “As a child in school I hated to read, it was scary. I noticed all the other kids were reading and it seemed so easy for them. I couldn’t understand why I was so different.”

But, she said, “I managed to make it through. I was shy and quiet, stayed near the back of the classroom, hid behind other kids. When it looked like it was my turn to read, I conveniently skipped class, told them I wasn’t feeling well or that I needed to go to the bathroom.”

“Luckily I graduated from high school, but I never thought about building a career for myself.”

At 18 years of age, Carey Rigby-Wilcox was an expectant mother.

When her son was born, a friend gave her a bag of children’s books to read to her child. She could not read the books.

She could not read the prescriptions on her baby’s medication.

Her moment of change came when she took her baby for his immunization and was handed a form by the public heath nurse to read and sign on behalf of her child.

She could not read the form and she signed not knowing what she was signing for her child.

In that moment she decided to change her life.

She sought out READ Saskatoon. She was paired with a marvelous volunteer in the literacy program.

Today Carey Rigby-Wilcox is as literate as any one in this room, she is a beautiful mother, and she has her own career and is herself a passionate volunteer and advocate for literacy.

The Conservatives in Ottawa just cut funding for that very program that changed Carey’s life!

According to the most research, there are thousands of Carey’s in our province today.

This Premier, this government will not stand idly by. Await further announcement.
When a young mother cannot read the form to sign for the immunization of her child, and when another young mother must hitchhike on a northern road from La Loche to Buffalo Narrows to get to adult basic education, we have much more to do.

When we are told that some of our seniors and elders are turning to the food banks because of the high cost of prescription medicines, we have much more to do.

When we witness the disparity in health status between those who have much and those who have little, which exists just blocks from where we meet, in the neighbourhood I call home, we have much more to do.
When our pulp mill stands idle, while workers are injured in the workplace, while farm families struggle to survive;

When our forest and our prairie are threatened by the warming of our globe, where species of our wildlife near extinction and nature cries out, we have much, much more to do.

When young lives are destroyed and families and neighbourhoods are torn apart by addictions:

Where our streets are not safe yet for children,

Where women are abused in family violence,

Where young people are drawn into gangs,
We have so much more to do.

And where the immigrant is made to feel unwelcome, where men and women are still and yet judged by the colour of their skin, or their sexual orientation,

Where tradition and culture are not respected,

Where rights and human decency are denied to our brother and sister in the neighbourhoods and towns of our own province, we have much more to do.

I call upon the energy in this room,

I call upon the energy of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party,

We need use this energy for our people of Saskatchewan.

We will build a province where no one is left behind on the path to opportunity,

We will build a province of an unbreakable social fabric,

We will build a province were the family is supported, where life is better everyday and to help our youth.

Let’s take that energy for our goal to build a better Saskatchewan.

If we take this energy as the focus of our vision, we will use this energy to win the next election!

Thank you!