Leader Profile: Jon Hromek, Saskatchewan United Party

Former oil company CEO turned political hopeful Jon Hromek is seeking to bring his party into the fold and translate distaste for the current government into seats for Saskatchewan United.

Hromek became leader of the upstart Saskatchewan United Party (SUP) in May after inaugural leader and former Sask. Party MLA Nadine Wilson stepped down.

Hromek graduated from the University of Regina in 2003 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Petroleum Engineering.

A member of both the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Headquartered Oil Producers, Hromek went on to launch and manage several oil exploration and production companies during his time in the sector.

He most recently served as the CEO and Chairman of Regina headquartered Adonai Resources II Corporation — which primarily operates in southeast Saskatchewan.

A self-described conservative, Hromek is a political newcomer who hopes to attract voters who feel disenchanted with the governing Saskatchewan Party.

Coming from the private sector to politics, Hromek notably provided $200,000 of his own money to the party.

“Basically, I'm a firm believer that when you jump into something, you should jump in with two feet. So, it's a startup party. There was new capital that was needed for it, so I made some loans to do that in order to get this party kind of up and running and moving forward and to be a contender here in this provincial election,” he told CTV News at a town hall event in Pense.

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Hromek has campaigned on low taxes, small government and a return to “fiscal responsibility” in the province.

“It just seems today, under the Scott Moe government, spending is unlimited,” he said. “There's no respect for taxpayer dollars. Our systems are failing, whether it's healthcare, it's education, and there doesn't seem to be any solutions there that are being put forward by both of the historical parties.”

“What we bring? We bring some fresh ideas. We bring new faces, we bring energy, and we bring fiscal responsibility,” he added.

Hromek has said his government would pursue regional partnerships and a relationship with the federal government similar to Quebec.

“We firmly believe that Quebec has a unique relationship within Canada, and we believe that other provinces should be able to have that same type of relationship with Canada as well,” he said.

“We have to be able to work with the federal government, because this is a country, and we've got to work together to make things that the best [they] can be.”

More specifically, a SUP government would reduce the provincial sales tax (PST) from six to three per cent, eliminate the provincial gas tax, advocate for more control over natural resource management, environmental regulations, immigration, education, infrastructure and healthcare delivery as well as introduce a 65 per cent discount on property taxes for seniors.

On environmental matters, Hromek says that a Sask United government would not commit to any net-zero policy.

“We don't stand for net zero at all and wouldn't sign on to anything like that. We do not believe that carbon dioxide is a pollutant. We believe it's plant food, it's the gas of life, and it shouldn't be classified as a toxin in the Environmental Protection Act,” he explained.

“As it relates to the environment and our policies on the environment, we're just focused on clean air, clean water and clean soils. These are the things that I believe the people of Saskatchewan want to ensure that we're keeping this province clean and beautiful for future generations.”

Concerning understaffing in healthcare, Hromek says Sask United would advocate for a system of retention where tuition would be paid for medical students in exchange for years of service in Saskatchewan.

“We would utilize all the universities across Canada and go in recruitment, where you're paying years of tuition in exchange for years of service, very similar to what the Royal Military College does out of Kingston,” he said.

“That would be for nurses, for doctors, even nurse practitioners. As well as we would be opening up spots at the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Regina for nurses, just to get more spaces.”

In terms of education, Hromek says the Sask Party has underfunded the system for the past several years an it needs to be addressed. However, his party’s position is that there is no system-wide solution, as what works in urban will not work for rural.

“If the school boards are all treated the same, it's not going to work and that's where resources need to be. Divisions need to have more autonomy over their resources and what they can do. So that's what we're pushing for,” he explained.

“It's basically a way to go back to kind of how it was pre the consolidations that took place right in 2011.”

On cultural issues, Hromek has said his party will work to restore historical markers that reflect the province’s past, oppose identity politics and protect gendered spaces by banning biological males from women’s only spaces and female sports.

When asked what an important issue to him, Hromek said he believes Saskatchewan is too over-regulated.

“Policy after policy, regulation after regulation, being pumped onto entrepreneurs and on to businesses, especially small and medium sized businesses. The cost of business is just going up too high, and it's leading to massive consolidations,” he said.

“Whether it's in the oil and gas industry or in agriculture or just your small mom and pop stores on Main Street. So that's an issue we want to target.”

As for his party’s chances, Hromek is hopeful for election day.

“We’re being very selective with our candidates because we’re running on competency,” he said.

“We want to have people that have management experience and can come and can bring something to the province and know how to manage a ministry. At the end of the day, we're going to do the best we can and get as many of our candidates elected, and we'll go from there.”

Sask United has nominated candidates in 31 of Saskatchewan’s 61 constituencies.

If the SUP captures any seat, it will mark the first time an MLA has been elected outside of Saskatchewan’s two major political parties since 1999.