REGINA – The opposition New Democrats say they are going to hold consultations to find out why Saskatchewan residents, especially young people, are leaving the province.
At a news conference at the Legislature Friday, NDP MLAs Noor Burki and Tajinder Grewal announced the launch of Your Future, Your Say. Burki said they plan to consult with young professionals, students and future leaders as well as labor groups, key industry stakeholders and sectors facing a skilled workers shortage on what the provincial government can do to keep people working at home.
They said the survey is already being distributed to a key stakeholder groups and town halls are being planned in the coming weeks as well.
Burki pointed to “the alarming rate at which people are leaving Saskatchewan after 18 years of failure of Sask Party government.” He accused Premier Scott Moe and his ministers of having “no plan to keep people, young people here, draw former residents home, or to attract newcomers.”
Burki said according to Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan population growth in the third quarter of 2025 was the lowest since the pandemic, and year over year growth was only 26 per cent of what it was in the third quarter of 2024. He also pointed to losses due to inter-provincial migration from Saskatchewan to other provinces.
“We have lost more than 52,000 people to inter-provincial migration since Scott Moe became premier. That means that since 2018 Saskatchewan has lost over 52,000 residents more to other provinces than we gained from the other provinces.”
What's old is new again
The focus of the NDP on interprovincial migration losses is sure to raise some eyebrows, as population decline had been the exact issue that the Sask Party had hammered the NDP on prior to taking power in 2007.
The Sask Party and leader Brad Wall had focused at the time on the issue of young people leaving the province for opportunities elsewhere, especially Alberta. They also introduced the Graduate Retention Program to help keep people in Saskatchewan, one of the signature planks in that 2007 election.
When asked what the NDP plan was this time around compared to back then, Burki said they want to get into more detail about what the concerns are and how to retain people in the province.
“We have a lot of job opportunities, a lot of potential over here and I think we need them at this point,” Burki said of young workers.
As for what they are hearing already, Burki pointed to wage and affordability concerns.
“We are the second lowest in minimum wage,” said Burki, who also pointed to rent increases as an issue. Burki and Grewal also pointed to sentiments expressed that it might be easier to get a second part-time job in bigger cities elsewhere to help pay the bills.
“The biggest factor for students for who are taking degree or diploma is the job — can they get a good paying job,” said Grewal, who also pointed to “affordable rent, affordable housing and good health care” as factors that will impact those students.
In response to the NDP press conference, the government said in a statement that Saskatchewan's population “has reached an all-time high of 1,266,959 according to Statistics Canada.”
“Saskatchewan grew by 19,091 people or 1.5 per cent over the past year, third highest in Canada and well ahead of the national rate of 0.9 per cent.”
They also pointed to Saskatchewan being the “most affordable place to live, work and raise a family in Canada – with some of the lowest personal taxes and lowest utility rates in the country.” They also pointed to the Graduate Retention Program having benefited more than 89,700 graduates since its inception, as well as the government increasing the maximum benefit by 20 per cent for post-secondary students who graduate on or after Oct. 1, 2024.
"We will take no lessons from the lost and reckless NDP, whose policies drove people out of Saskatchewan the last time they were in government,” their statement read.
Grewal also voices concerns about more SaskPoly cuts
Interprovincial migration numbers were not Grewal’s only concern on Friday. He also voiced his continued outrage over job cuts at Sask Polytechnic campuses in Saskatchewan.
Grewal responded to a new news report that SGEU saw 48 of their workers at Saskatchewan Polytechnic laid off in the latest round of cuts, on top of the job losses already suffered by Saskatchewan Polytechnic Faculty Association. He repeated his call for the province to intervene to stop further job losses.
“This brings the total number of job cuts to 111 between these two unions SGEU and SPFA,” said Grewal. “We cannot have a strong economy and a strong health care without a strong Sask Poly. The Sask Party government needs to step in immediately and stop these layoffs."
