The Sask. Party is due to hold a “Northern Golf Classic” Tuesday in Elk Ridge to raise money for their political campaigns.
The current Sask. Party Leader has yet to tour the northern communities devastated by wildfires – Denare Beach, East Trout Lake, and Sucker River – and hear firsthand from residents. There also is no evidence of Moe visiting any evacuation centres in Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Lloydminster or elsewhere, despite his claims to the contrary.
“No one has gotten any help and there has been no accountability from our government or our Premier Scott Moe,” said Dustin Trumbley, who lost his home and business in the fire at Denare. “I voted for this guy, but it turns out, he’s the most heartless, cruel person I’ve ever known. I know why the government is out golfing instead of showing some leadership. Everyone has a million questions for Moe and I think that’s why he’s avoiding us like the plague.”
The area where the Sask. Party is holding their exclusive golf fundraiser has been impacted by wildfires throughout the summer.
The nearby Buhl fire is still classified as “Not Contained,”
Parks Canada had to issue a warning in July that visitors should stay away from neighbouring Prince Albert National Park, and the only highway in or out of the region, Highway 2, has closed
multiple times due to wildfire activity.
“Mr. Moe, my family isn't golfing, boating or taking a family summer resort holiday — we no longer have that luxury,” said Linda Lowe, a 31-year resident of Denare Beach whose home was completely destroyed by the Wolf fire.
Lowe added: “Had you taken the time to travel north in person and not sent your ministers, you would have seen for yourself on the drive into Denare Beach that there is a provincial billboard that once urged, ‘Be prepared, don’t start a fire.’ Now, it is charred and barely legible — its message consumed by the very disaster it warned against. This image is symbolic of what our community has experienced from your leadership: warnings without action and promises without follow-through. During the height of the fires, the support from your provincial leadership was inconsistent, delayed and quite simply embarrassingly inadequate.”
Rhonda Werbicki’s family home of 26 years burned to the ground at Denare Beach.
“You have underestimated us, Scott Moe,” she said in a written statement. “We are not going anywhere. You are our Premier. This is a job you wanted. Now do your job. Suck in your pride and come see us — admit to your downfalls. They’re obvious, you can’t hide them. We all make mistakes. But not taking accountability makes you a coward and not worthy to be in the job you’re in. As a longtime supporter you have lost my vote. I’m ashamed to say I voted for you.”
Jordan McPhail, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Northern Affairs, said it’s clear there is so much pain after the disaster this summer, but it’s been made worse by the Sask. Party’s failure to lead since Day 1.
“My constituents feel abandoned because, for the record, the government has abandoned them,” McPhail said. “They were evacuated with no notice and given no support funding for weeks or months.
“When they raised concerns about their communities, they were ignored. They were told that we were ready for wildfire season over and over while we were grossly understaffed and critically needed water bombers sat idle on the tarmac in La Ronge.
“This has been such an epic failure that the government is now under investigation.
“My constituents will recover from this in spite of the Sask. Party government, not because of them.”
Brittney Senger, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Ethics & Democracy, said Tuesday’s golf tournament should have never been planned and now should be cancelled.
“This golf tournament shows just how out-of-touch the Sask. Party really is after 18 years in power,” Senger said. “Scott Moe and his ministers need to put their golf clubs away and hit the road to finally talk to the people of the North who lost so much this summer. Do your job, support these people.”
Full copies of Linda Lowe and Rhonda Werbicki’s statements are below.
-30-
Full Statement from Linda Lowe (204-271-2482), 31-year resident of Denare Beach:
“Mr. Moe, my family isn't golfing, boating or taking a family summer resort holiday, we no longer have that luxury. Instead we are picking up the pieces after the Wolf fire.
Had you taken the time to travel north in person and not sent your ministers, you would have seen for yourself on the drive into Denare Beach, that there is a provincial billboard that once urged, “Be prepared, don’t start a fire.” Now, it is charred and barely legible—its message consumed by the very disaster it warned against. This image is symbolic of what our community has experienced from your leadership: warnings without action and promises without follow-through. During the height of the fires, the support from your provincial leadership was inconsistent, delayed and quite simply embarrassingly inadequate.
Then after the flames passed, the resources to help us recover have been limited, leaving families, businesses, and entire neighbourhoods struggling to rebuild without the help and appropriate provincial aid in recovery funding for residents, local businesses and the municipality.
The destruction in Northern Saskatchewan is more than the burnt trees you see on the 6 o'clock news, it is a breakdown of trust between the people and the government they voted in and trusted to protect them. The burnt billboard is a reminder that warnings mean nothing without the action to back them and the need for long-term investment in prevention, fire suppression capacity, and northern infrastructure.
My message today is, while you golf and travel on the provincial wallet, the people of Northern Saskatchewan deserve the same level of urgency, care, and investment as any other region in this province. Mr. Moe, you and the SPSA did nothing to provide the preventive measures needed, nor acknowledge the destruction of the Wolf fire until you felt the pressure to do so. Residents and the municipality now take on the financial burden of clean up, repairs, and the fees for lifting SaskPower lines for each of the replacement homes. You allocated $20 million to communities affected by the wildfires but how is that going to be split amongst these communities? Will these our municipalities have to go into further debt to cover the cost of the cleanup, the rebuild the lifting of power lines, the fixing of the damage done by the fire that you could have prevented?
The Sask Party's duty should be taking on these costs completely since they chose to not acknowledge the severity of the Wolf fires location and growth pattern, and their delayed response for continued requests to the state of emergency Denare Beach was in and for the SPSA's lack of assistance prior to the disaster.
We will never forget the Wolf fire that took our home and business, so we will not let you do so either. We will continue to demand your government take responsibility, because our safety, our homes, and our future and others in Saskatchewan depend on it.
Thank you, Carla, Jordan and the NDP for continually standing up for the people of Saskatchewan and those of us North of the Sask. Party Golf Course.”
--
Full statement from Rhonda Werbicki (204-271-5106), 26-year resident of Denare Beach:
“I have always been a Sask. Party supporter in the past. I voted for Scott Moe. On June 2/2025 two-thirds of my community of Denare Beach burnt to the ground, including my home of 26 years. I know there’s always chit chat about how the government does nothing for us, but regardless of party I honestly believed that our government had our back.
Well. I was wrong. I’m so incredibly disappointed in Scott Moe and his government for how the fires in the North were handled. I’ve seen so many comments. ‘there was nothing he could do with winds being as high as they were’, “he did sent help”, “there was so many fires across Canada, what could he have done”? Well, I have answers for all of those.
The fires that burnt down our community started near Foran mine around May 17. They were left to burn with no intervention. Our community burnt down June 2. There was lots of time to get that fire under control. We have firefighters, our local emergency response officer, and our local fire dispatch office that have all come forward saying they asked for help days before the fire turned into a category 6 nightmare. All their pleas came upon deaf ears. We had a meeting on June 23 with the SPSA in Creighton to go over what happened that day. The response from them was embarrassing. They came unprepared, not even knowing the day the wildfire started or how many structures were lost. They couldn’t answer simple questions from our local firefighters as to why help was not sent. They promised us they’d have another meeting where they would answer our questions but two months later they have yet to do that. Scott Moe has been very flippant about his responses online. He’s barely acknowledged the fires. He’s too busy cheering on the Edmonton Oilers, hosting big shots from all over the world, and going to the Calgary Stampede. Now he’s going on a golf tournament in the North while still not even coming to see the damage in the community where we live where over 200 homes were destroyed. Some of us, like myself, have no place to stay once the winter comes. Our area is only so big with only so many rentals. That’s over 200 families looking for accommodations while we try to rebuild. No word from Scott Moe on any help with that. I’m living hours from my community and having to get accommodations from work so I can still earn a paycheck. I’m not the only one. It took his government over 4 weeks to get any kind of financial help sent to us while evacuated. For many people this was an incredibly hard time being displaced, having to pay out of pocket for accommodations, and not working. We still haven’t seen a penny from the Red Cross and this is almost 3 months later.
As a taxpayer I find it appalling that my own government cares so little about us. Is it because we’re from the North? Is it because he knows he screwed up and can’t face us? I look at our neighboring province of MB and Mr. Kinew’s responses to the northern fires. The communities of Lynn Lake, Snow Lake, Flin Flon, and Leaf Rapids all had fires literally knocking on their doors. Because Mr. Kinew sent help immediately these communities are still standing.
We want answers. We will not forget and let it go. We want to know why help wasn’t sent. We want to know why the fires were allowed to burn as long as they did with no intervention. Help was sitting there waiting but Scott Moe did not ask for it. We had 11 local firefighters. That’s it.
You have underestimated us, Scott Moe. We are not going anywhere. You are our premier. This is a job you wanted. Now do your job. Suck in your pride and come see us. Admit to your downfalls. They’re obvious, you can’t hide them. We all make mistakes. But not taking accountability makes you a coward and not worthy to be in the job you’re in. As a long time supporter you have lost my vote. I’m ashamed to say I voted for you.”