For nearly a decade, the Sask. Party has failed to close the gap in health, education, justice and income levels for First Nations and Métis peoples. On top of that, they have refused to keep their promise to apologize for the Sixties Scoop.
Today, the Saskatchewan NDP used their time in Question Period to shine a light on these issues.
The many people on the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) program are just a portion of Saskatchewan’s most vulnerable who has been hurt by the Sask. Party’s cuts. The Sask. Party’s changes to the SAID program negatively affected hundreds, and left them to pay for the mismanagement of the Sask. Party.
“I have heard from so many throughout the province who are struggling to make ends meet, or had their medical needs worsen because of the cuts made by the Sask. Party,” said NDP Leader Ryan Meili. “The Sask. Party needs to understand that these cuts are harmful to not only the people affected by them, but to the whole province as well.”
As more jobs are lost, more people are looking for opportunities in other provinces
The latest report from Statistics Canada shows that there were 7,800 fewer people working in Saskatchewan last month than were a year earlier. While every other province except Newfoundland and Labrador saw an increase in the number of people working, Saskatchewan had the biggest drop.
“Both of our neighbours to the west saw significant growth in jobs – nearly 46,000 more people working in Alberta – but, here in Saskatchewan, the Sask. Party’s heartless cuts and bad management cost us 7,800 jobs,” said NDP Jobs Critic Vicki Mowat. “On top of the jobs we’ve lost, these latest numbers are also troubling because they show that more and more people have given up looking for work here in Saskatchewan.”
The Sask. Party has failed to support women across the province and has even failed to adequately support their own the Status of Women’s office. Emails obtained by the Saskatchewan NDP show how difficult it is for the single staff person to handle the caseload and provide proper supports to women across the province.
In an email received under a Freedom of Information request, the lone staff person writes, “When you are a one-person office all tasks even Admin tasks end up as one’s responsibility…just sayin!!”
Despite the millions of taxpayers’ dollars the Sask. Party has paid to an American lobbyist to promote carbon capture in the US, Saskatchewan was left out of a large carbon capture coalition that was announced last week in the U.S. This rejection comes after not a single jurisdiction in the world joined the CCS global consortium the Sask. Party attempted to create.
“Instead of standing there today and repeating the line that ‘we're certainly leading the world’ when it comes to carbon capture, the Minister should be more concerned about how little Saskatchewan people have really gotten in return for the billions of their dollars the Sask. Party has dumped into it,” said NDP Environment Critic Cathy Sproule. “The Sask. Party is hurting Saskatchewan’s economy and is costing families and businesses more and more with this project and we simply are not seeing the results the Sask. Party promised or are still bragging about.”
The Sask. Party like to talk about the glory days and pretend that they had anything to do with the record resource revenue that fell in their lap, but the fact is, things aren’t so rosy these days. The Sask. Party blew through those good days, spent the surpluses and rainy-day fund and have brought in heartless cuts and unfair tax hikes.
The Conference Board of Canada has just confirmed what more and more Saskatchewan people have already been feeling – life is getting less and less affordable. The Board’s most recent report shows that “job creation and the domestic economy have been lacklustre” and that Saskatchewan is expected to see the slowest rate of GDP growth in all of Canada.
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/newsrelease/2018/02/28/provincial-economic-growth-still-strong-in-the-west?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=cboc