With the elimination of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company, the Sask. Party sent a clear message that it does not care about the Saskatchewan people who rely on the busses to get them and their packages around and they care even less about the 224 workers who are now without a job.
“Across the province, Saskatchewan people woke up Wednesday morning to find out they had to change their travel plans and scramble to arrange transportation - including for medical appointments and business needs - because the bus service they depend on was callously cut out of the blue. Meanwhile, 224 STC workers learned that their jobs were cut,” said NDP STC Critic Doyle Vermette. “The Premier and his cabinet seem to have forgotten that STC and the crowns belong to the people of the province and that Saskatchewan families should never be forced to pay the price for Sask. Party’s mismanagement, scandal and waste.”
Vermette said he was disappointed to see STC on the chopping block in the budget, especially when, in July, the then Minister said it was safe from privatization. He added that it does not make any sense to cut a service on which so many depend while also giving tax giveaways to large corporations and the province’s most wealthy.
In addition to scrapping the STC through this budget bill, the Sask. Party is also pushing a change in the law through the legislature to let them sell 49 per cent of all Crown Corporations, including SaskTel, without a mandate from the people of the province.
“The province’s crowns - from STC to SaskTel - deliver dependable and valued services to people all over the province,” said Vermette. “This plan by the Sask. Party is deceitful, it’s wrong, and it will hurt the people from all four corners of our province. Whether you're from a rural, Northern, or urban community, the Sask. Party's plans to scrap our Crowns will hurt us all.”
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.