REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Opposition Health Critic Vicki Mowat called on the Sask. Party government to use windfall revenues to rebuild our health system.
“Scott Moe’s Sask. Party finally announced what they plan to do with windfall revenues this week. They don’t plan to invest a dime of the resource boom to fix our collapsing health system,” said Beck. “We’ve been calling for affordability relief since March and I’m glad they are acting on those calls.”
“The choice to put a billion in the government coffers, with nothing for healthcare is a mistake. You don’t pay down the mortgage when the roof is about to collapse,” she said, standing out front of the now-shuttered Pasqua South Medical Centre, formerly operated by Dr. Tomi Mitchell.
At a press conference this week, Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said that it would not be prudent to invest in the healthcare system now because the oil and potash price boom is temporary. Yesterday, the government of British Columbia announced a plan to invest $118 million to stabilize their health system. Scott Moe chose not to invest any revenues to help our health system while:
“It’s beyond belief that this government would choose to put blinders on and ignore the crisis in our health system,” said Mowat. “The Sask. Party might lack the vision to fix our health system, but solutions exist. Other provinces that aren’t recording record revenues are stepping up to the challenge and investing in healthcare. Why are Saskatchewan people any less deserving of quality healthcare?”
Beck and Mowat called on the province to examine solutions like recruitment incentives and signing bonuses, expanding and subsidizing healthcare education, and supporting clinics and primary care facilities with ever-increasing costs.
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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.