Today the Saskatchewan NDP called on the government to extend whistleblower protection to the Saskatchewan Health Authority and its employees through the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which currently excludes them.

The move to extend whistleblower legislation to the province’s health sector is intended to address the culture of fear that prevails under the Sask. Party. It follows the release earlier this week of a Saskatchewan Health Authority hush memo warning frontline healthcare workers not to speak to the media, their licensing body or outside agencies without SHA approval, and not to include newsworthy information in meeting minutes.

“This government denies that there’s a culture of fear among public employees,” said Deputy Leader Nicole Sarauer. “If they truly believe that, they should have no problem extending whistleblower protections to frontline workers, who are best able to identify problems in our healthcare system. This culture of fear is bad for our healthcare system, it’s bad for nurses and other frontline health workers, and it lets down the people of this province.”