If re-elected in October, the Sask. Party is committing to increase the Graduate Retention Program benefit by 20 per cent, bringing the maximum benefit for a four-year university graduate to $24,000.

Students graduating from one, two-, or three-years courses will receive the same benefit increase. The Sask. Party will also introduce a $5000 rebate for those taking their class 1A truck driver training, and then choosing to live and work in Saskatchewan afterwards.

Party Leader Scott Moe repeatedly stated that the NDP have admitted they would cancel the Graduate Retention Program should they be elected.

NDP Education Critic Matt Love was waiting outside of the announcement to contradict that claim.

“So, the premier knows that that’s not true, because that was an NDP idea previous to the Sask. Party forming government. So, they took our idea, and they’ve run with it, but it’s absolutely not true. Carla Beck and the NDP would keep this program in place.”

Despite the provincial governments efforts to keep young people in the province after graduating from post-secondary school, Love says the plan isn’t working. He states that according to Statistics Canada, the number of people leaving the province has outpaced the number moving in, in every reporting quarter in Saskatchewan since 2018.

He blames Moe’s track record of putting Saskatchewan in last place when it comes to both healthcare and education. The NDP claims that over 200,000 Saskatchewan people do not have regular access to a doctor, the province has the longest wait times for surgeries in the country, and Saskatchewan students receiving less funding than anywhere else in Canada.

“His track record is one of failure…We need leaders who step up to the plate and take responsibility, and Scott Moe has failed Saskatchewan miserably in that regard,” Love states.