Sask. Party miscalculates NDP campaign promise

The Saskatchewan Party says it made a mistake when it criticized an NDP health announcement as an expensive $840 million campaign promise.

The NDP outlined their health platform Thursday morning. The Saskatchewan Party pounced on the announcement issuing a news released entitled "Cha-Ching!!!"

However, later on the same day, the Saskatchewan Party's Don McMorris said they made a mistake and estimated the cost of the NDP promise as more likely around $60 million.

McMorris said his party thought the NDP were promising new community clinics throughout the province, which are more expensive to operate than primary healthcare clinics.

"It was an incorrect assumption that they were talking about community clinics, as opposed to primary health care sites," McMorris said in explaining the gaffe.

Heading into the election McMorris was the provincial Health Minister.

While McMorris owned-up to his party's mistake, he said the NDP should have included a statement about the cost of its healthcare promise.

He said if they had, he would not have made the mistaken calculation.

"That would have made quite a difference if that was put in the news release," McMorris said. "They obviously had it, but they didn't put it in the news release, which makes quite a difference."

As of about 8:45 p.m. CST Wednesday night, the Saskatchewan Party's election website was still prominently displaying the news release which miscalculated the NDP promise.