Leader Profile: Carla Beck, NDP

The first woman elected leader of the Saskatchewan New Democrats, Carla Beck has served in the role since 2022 after she beat out Saskatoon-based Métis lawyer Kaitlin Harvey to succeed former leader Ryan Meili.

Raised on a mixed farm near the community of Lang, Beck spent 20 years as a social worker and served two terms as a Regina Public School Board trustee prior to being elected as the MLA for Regina Lakeview in 2016.

Over the course of her tenure at the legislature, Beck has served as deputy leader, caucus chair, opposition critic for labour, education, early learning and childcare.

Beck and her husband Guy live in Regina with their three children, Hannah, Nolan and Maya.

However, it was back in her hometown that CTV News caught up with Beck to learn more about the woman behind the title.

“Politics wasn't really on my radar when I was growing up,” she explained. “But the sense that was instilled in all of us growing up was it was important to be part of your community.”

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From her first day as leader, Beck vowed to expand the party’s appeal far beyond the confines of the NDP’s two bastions in the province – Regina and Saskatoon.

“I've always believed that if you look for division, you can find it, but if you look for common ground you can find that as well, and it's the best way to arrive at decisions,” she said.

“I'm really happy to say that common ground is easy to find out there. People pretty much want the same things. They want good things for their kids. They want a safe community. They want to be able to pay their bills.”

In the past two years as opposition leader, Beck has focused criticism at the Sask. Party’s handling of personnel shortages in healthcare, classroom size and complexity concerns in Saskatchewan schools, affordability issues, as well as the scandals that have befallen several Sask Party MLAs, resulting in some being removed from caucus.

At times Beck and her caucus have agreed with the Saskatchewan Party, such as with the federal carbon tax.

“We have been on the record, certainly from the time that I was running to be leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, we’ve said very clearly we were opposed to the consumer-based carbon tax for practical reasons,” she explained.

“Not because we don't care about emissions, not because we don't understand the need to diversify how we generate energy in the province, but because the federal carbon tax, as it laid out, disproportionately impacts provinces like Saskatchewan.”

Other times they’ve been vehemently opposed, such as the case of the Parents’ Bill of Rights.

“[The government] chose to find the most divisive, inflammatory piece of legislation that it could and one that took direct aim at some of the most vulnerable kids in our province. That's not how government should behave. We can have disagreements, but at the end of the day, we should be trying to improve things, not turn people against each other,” she said.

“Again, all parents want to be involved in their kids’ education. We want that too.”

After the better part of two decades in power, Beck believes the Saskatchewan Party no longer has the best interest of everyday people in mind.

“One of the main things that I hear from people, and this is in room after room across the province, this is a government that has stopped listening to people, has stopped working with communities, with industries, with businesses, with school boards,” she explained.

“People don't want the government to fix all of their problems for them. People want to be full partners in creating the better Saskatchewan that we all want in this province. That's the kind of government that I intend to lead.”

The promises

Before the writ was even dropped, Beck and the NDP were busy with outreach and making promises for the upcoming campaign.

If elected this fall, Beck has said an NDP government will increase education funding by $2 billion from 2025 to 2029 – this includes new schools in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and White City. A school lunch program is planned along with improving English as a Second Language (EAL) and learning disability supports.

“This is a system that has been underfunded for a decade … I was a school board trustee in 2009 every year up until I went into provincial politics, we saw more and more decisions being made in small rooms in in the legislature, less and less attention paid to local voices,” she recalled.

“We need to respect our teachers, we need to respect those who work in education. This is primarily an underfunding issue.”

For healthcare, a total of $1.1 billion will be slated for frontline workers with a renewed focus on retention. The party also boasts a “Grow Your Own Strategy” which looks to train and retain healthcare workers from Saskatchewan.

“One of the places we've lost the most nurses in this province is in rural areas. Almost one in four nurses we've lost in rural communities, which means that the closures that we see often are occurring in rural communities, and people are very concerned about that,” Beck highlighted.

A focus on emergency rooms is also top of mind. The party also plans to create an online dashboard which will include an emergency room wait time tracker. Improvements to mental health and addictions counselling as well as an expansion of rapid access counselling are planned.

On the topic of affordability, the NDP has said it will pause the provincial gas tax for six months once elected, remove PST on groceries and children’s clothes, institute a “Rental Rates Protection Act” and increase access to $10-a-day childcare.

The NDP’s economic plan includes a “Hire Saskatchewan” plan, raising minimum wage, a tax freeze for small businesses, a $40,000 start-up loan program, and increased funding for short term training of in-demand professions like construction and trucking.

Additionally, the New Democrats would scrap the proposed Marshals service and hire 200 additional officers across the RCMP and municipal police services, begin an “Unexplained Wealth Task Force” aimed at drug trafficking, and institute a $2 million rebate program for lights, cameras and other security features.

Highlighting vacant provincial housing units, Beck has vowed to begin utilizing them in order to clamp down on homelessness in the province.

“These are not going to be simple solutions, that's for sure, but our plan is to start returning those unused units to the marketplace, to ensure that people can use them,” she said. “Five hundred the first year and having all 3,000 units available at a time that people desperately need housing.”

The Saskatchewan Party has criticized the NDP’s plan, claiming it will cost more than $4 billion and most certainly lead to “higher taxes, huge deficits and cancelling important projects like new schools and hospitals.”

When asked, “How will you pay for it?” Beck made her stance clear.

“Saskatchewan doesn't have a revenue problem. Saskatchewan has a management problem,” she said. “It's not a problem of resources, it’s a problem of misplaced priorities on the part of this government.”

Beck pointed to the AIMS system rollout and the overdependence on travel nurses as two cases of overspending and “mismanagement.”

“We have a plan that we're very excited about. It will be fully costed,” she said.

“I'm not going to take any advice from a government that has already overspent their current budget by $2 billion and has us in last place in education, has us in last place in healthcare, and is still not providing the affordability relief that people need in the province right now,” she added.

Not the NDP of the past

Another common attack from the Saskatchewan Party has been highlighting cuts and closures made by NDP governments of decades past – and tying it to Beck and her party.

“One of their former MLAs said about that very line, that's an old line. People are tired of hearing that people are tired of leaders, governments not taking responsibility, leaning into division or distraction,” she said.

“They're going to have to run on their own record. I just asked people in this province, ‘Are you better off than you were six years ago on any of these fronts?’ Unfortunately, the answer for too many people is no.”

Using an analogy she made at her campaign kickoff, Beck said she realizes the coming election will be an uphill battle – but her party is ready for.

“There is momentum that we're seeing, but we are realistic that we still have a lot of work to do,” she said. “We're rounding second, but we still got a ways to go till we get to home. We're excited about the work in front of us.”

Under Beck, the New Democrats have expanded their seat count to 14 – following dual wins in a trio of Regina byelections in 2023.

The party also successfully held onto its seat in Saskatoon-Meewasin in 2022.

Oct. 28 will see Beck try to reclaim lost territory and end the Saskatchewan NDP’s 17 year stint in opposition.