As a result of Sask. Party cuts, hundreds of teachers and support workers have already been told their jobs have been eliminated from Saskatchewan schools and, with only half of the province’s school boards reporting how the Sask. Party’s budget cuts will affect them, there are even more job cuts to come.
“The cuts the Sask. Party made in their budget are having very real and a very direct impacts on our kids,” said Education Critic Carla Beck. “These short-sighted cuts will absolutely hurt our teachers’ ability to teach and our kids’ ability to learn and grow in the classroom. The human and economic costs of refusing to properly foster growth in a student and help them reach their potential far exceed any short-term savings that these cuts will bring.”
The divisions that have provided information have already announced a total of 284 full-time equivalent positions that will be cut and more cuts are expected. So far, these cuts have particularly impacted special needs programs, Aboriginal retention workers, speech language pathologists, counsellors, and education assistants among many others.
“The students of Saskatchewan should not be the ones to pay for the Sask. Party’s mismanagement, scandal and waste,” Beck said. “The Sask. Party has said that the budget was about ‘Investing in Priority Areas.’ Well, they handed corporations and their wealthy and well-connected friends $100 million in tax breaks and their cuts to education are forcing hundreds of our teachers and the people who support our kids in their schools to be thrown out of work. What does that say about their priorities?”
Poor working conditions, favouritism, $300K travel nurse pay at issue
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition released a letter signed by 49 emergency room nurses in Saskatoon. The letter slams the Sask. Party government for failing to support Saskatchewan nurses and curb the province’s reliance on expensive out-of-province travel nurses.
REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Critic for First Nations and Métis Relations Betty Nippi-Albright hosted a Day of Action with Indigenous leaders from Nekaneet First Nation, Yellow Quill First Nation, Waterhen Lake First Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Carry The Kettle First Nation, Key First Nation and the residential school support team from Yorkton Tribal Council. Together, they continue to draw attention to the Sask. Party government’s disregard for the Duty to Consult process.
MOOSE JAW - Today, the Official Opposition stood with Taylor Enns, president of the Moose Jaw Firefighters Association, and Brayden Dutchak, the son of a cancer survivor. Together, they called on the Sask. Party government to reopen Saskatchewan’s only hyperbaric chamber.
Records show former Sask. Party Finance Minister lobbied for Calgary surgery scheme on behalf of a major Sask. Party donor
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition grilled the Premier and his Minister of Health after the Minister misled the public, claiming that he had not been lobbied by a former Sask. Party MLA when Saskatchewan's official lobbyist logs show the exact opposite.