“The NDP want to encourage the government to work collaboratively with our neighbouring provinces to ensure adequate training and testing of operators in an effort to keep Saskatchewan highways as safe as possible.”
“We also encourage the province to look at best practices and work collaboratively with industry stakeholders.”
“Our truck drivers are an important part of a healthy economy. We need to ensure that they have the right training and tools to do the job.”
With the cancellation of the Saskatchewan Rental Housing Supplement looming, the NDP is calling on the Sask. Party to reverse its heartless cut of the program that has helped so many vulnerable people throughout the province.
“Low income families and people with disabilities depend greatly on this supplement. They can’t afford to have this option taken off the table,” said NDP Leader Ryan Meili. “This is the kind of short-term thinking that hurts people today and costs us all more in the long run.”
Today, NDP Highways and Infrastructure Critic Buckley Belanger met with concerned Balgonie resident Jesse Edwards to discuss the safety, design and quality control of the Regina Bypass. One glaring issue is the hole in the Tower Road bridge overpass just east of Regina. There is also significant erosion taking place underneath that same overpass.
“The Regina Bypass is nothing short of a $2 billion disaster,” said Belanger. “We have overpasses that aren’t constructed to handle tractor trailers and farming equipment. We have overpasses that are literally crumbling as cars drive over them. The Sask. Party government wasted taxpayer dollars on what has now become a safety issue.”
The former Chief of the Saskatoon Police Service Clive Weighill’s report on the Office of the Chief Coroner had a number of concerns, but the overall causes go back to the Sask. Party not providing proper funding and staffing for the office.
“We are very thankful for the work that Chief Weighill did on this file. Now, what we need from the Sask. Party is to do more than just pay it lip service,” said NDP Justice Critic Nicole Sarauer. “The proper funding and supports need to be in place for the sake of the workers in the Coroner’s Office and to ensure that investigations and inquests can be done properly.”
A recent report by an anti-poverty advocacy group shows that northern Saskatchewan has the second highest child poverty rate in the country.
“The Sask. Party has known for years that action is needed to address poverty, but they just won’t act,” said NDP Social Services Critic Trent Wotherspoon. “Instead of making the smart investments we need to reduce poverty, we’re seeing shortsighted cuts to supports for the vulnerable, like the Rental Housing Supplement, that are only going to make this unacceptable problem even worse.”
The provincial auditor’s report released last week further clarified the challenges facing Saskatchewan patients in accessing mental health care, stating that “long waits can lead to people’s conditions getting worse, and in some cases, waits can even contribute to death.”
Psychiatrist Sarah Dungavell, who practices in La Ronge and Saskatoon, says that “waitlists across the province remain too high and my colleagues and I are unable to see patients soon enough.”