Saskatchewan NDP Caucus

Beck, parents call for clear guidelines and funding for return to classroom plan

NDP Education Critic Carla Beck was joined by Elya Lam, a mother with serious concerns about sending two of her four children to school in the fall, and Saskatoon small business owner Lindsay Sanderson who has a child who should be entering kindergarten, to call for adequate guidelines and necessary funding for students and teachers to return to schools safely.

“I have heard from many teachers and parents from throughout the province and there is hope and a willingness to have students back in the classroom this fall, but there are still many blanks that have not been filled out by the Sask. Party,” Beck said. “This government has completely failed the people of Saskatchewan when it comes to coming up with a plan and properly funding student’s and teachers’ return to the classroom in the fall.”

NDP ask Conflict of Interest Commissioner to review Moe’s WE file in light of non-competitive contract

NDP Education Critic Carla Beck wrote the Conflict of Interest Commissioner today to request a reexamination of the Premier’s correspondence surrounding potential conflicts of interest with the WE Charity. Last week Premier Moe ignored a request to proactively disclose that correspondence.

“We’re still waiting for simple answers to simple questions about the decision to hand public dollars to Scott Moe and Justin Trudeau’s favourite well-connected charity,” said Beck. “Was the Premier forthright about the fact that he had already discussed with his Education Minister a partnership with WE months before his trip? How aggressively did Moe and Wyant advocate for this project with officials? And why this untested pilot project with a Toronto charity when the tools for promoting student well-being are right here in front of us: adequate funding, adequate support, and teachers who aren’t run off their feet?” 

Internal “review” into long-term care an insult: Meili

Today, NDP Leader Ryan Meili called the government’s “internal review” into long-term care standards in Saskatchewan an insult, and called on the Sask. Party government to do a proper review of long-term care. He also committed to appointing an independent Seniors’ Advocate and introducing legislated minimum care standards.

“This government has spent years dismissing the calls of families and seniors for better, safer care across the province,” said Meili. “It is an insult to everyone who has stepped forward with good-faith concerns about the abysmal level of care this government provides to announce an ‘internal review’ without telling anyone what they are reviewing and who will be involved.”

Meili responds to record increase in COVID case count

NDP Leader Ryan Meili issued the following statement in response to today’s case count numbers:

“Never felt so filthy”: Granddaughter of retired nurse and NDP call for action to address sanitary risks of understaffing in Long-Term Care

NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat joined Marea Olafson, a teacher living near Wynyard who has become an advocate for her grandmother, to raise concerns about how understaffing in long-term care is putting residents at elevated risk during a pandemic.

“Understaffing of long-term care is a serious problem in Saskatchewan, as Marea’s grandmother has experienced these past months,” said Mowat. “We know that frontline care workers are working incredibly hard under difficult circumstances and understaffing by this government is putting them in impossible situations. Especially during a pandemic, we need urgent action to address that understaffing, for the safety of residents, of staff, and of families.”

NDP calls on Premier to proactively disclose correspondence on potential WE conflict of interest

Raising concerns about the timeline that preceded a quarter-of-a-million-dollar partnership between WE Charity and the Ministry of Education, the Saskatchewan NDP is calling on Premier Moe to proactively release his correspondence with the Conflict of Interest Commissioner regarding his recent trip to Kenya with the organization’s founder, Craig Kielburger. The Premier met with Mr. Kielburger on two separate occasions last fall, and the Premier indicated yesterday that a contract with his organization was already under consideration at that time.

“The Premier said yesterday that he’d discussed a possible WE contract with the Minister of Education as early as last summer or fall, but maintains that there was no conflict of interest in his Kielburger visit to Kenya because it was cleared by the conflict of interest commissioner,” said NDP Education Critic Carla Beck. “Did the Premier inform the Commissioner that he and the Education Minister had discussed a programming partnership with the charity that Moe was travelling with? If there’s nothing to hide this should be simple: the Premier should proactively release his communication with the Commissioner on this issue.”