REGINA - NDP Finance Critic Trent Wotherspoon and the Critic for the Economy and Jobs Aleana Young responded today to the government’s Mid-Year Report, raising serious concerns that the government is failing businesses and working families, while not investing in the immediate needs of the health care system.
“In the last election campaign Scott Moe told the people of Saskatchewan we were out of the woods - that we had fought the pandemic and it was behind us,” said Wotherspoon. “Today we see our health care system pushed past the limit in a second wave of Covid-19 that Scott Moe refused to acknowledge was coming. Now is the time for real action – and real investment – to protect jobs, businesses and our communities.”
Despite sustained triple-digit increases in case numbers, outbreaks in dozens of care homes and schools and our intensive care units already over capacity, the Mid-Year Report contained no announcement of new investments needed to fight and support people through the second wave. Meanwhile, the Sask. Party government is sitting on $160 million of the province’s $200 million contingency which is currently unspent. The Mid-Year Report even added a new $100 million in contingency funding, for a total of $260 million. The Sask. Party government has also revealed that they have not fully deployed all of the $440 million in federal funding for additional and new measures to fight this pandemic.
“This is a missed opportunity, one with deadly consequences. The government has refused to consider a circuit breaker, but what we have now is the worst of both worlds. Businesses are being told to stay open while their customers are being urged to stay home - it’s a recipe for economic disaster,” said Young. “Instead of sitting on federal dollars and forcing people and small businesses to struggle through this crisis on their own, the Sask. Party needs to increase supports now to ensure that we don’t see any more businesses closed or working people get left behind.”
The Official Opposition will continue to push for common-sense actions to help protect families and businesses, including:
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.