“You can’t make this staggering level of incompetence up,” said Nathaniel Teed, Shadow Minister for Labour. “Hundreds of thousands of people across Saskatchewan have no access to primary care, and the Minister is going to stand up there this morning and tell you that things have never been better. But he refuses to be honest about how many workers his disastrous management has driven out of Saskatchewan”
The news conference on Thursday comes just two days after Cockrill held a media availability celebrating that, after hundreds of thousands of dollars and multiple international trips, he has managed to recruit only three doctors to Saskatchewan.
In 2025, the British Columbia Government launched a marketing and recruitment campaign to attract healthcare workers from states such as Oregon, Washington, and California into the province. As of January 2026, the province successfully recruited and signed on more than 400 physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and other allied health professionals.
Other provinces are also capitalizing on growing interest from healthcare workers in commonwealth countries. Manitoba recently completed a recruitment mission that brought in 29 paramedics and 24 physicians from the United Kingdom — the trip cost $200,000, less than what Saskatchewan spent to recruit only three doctors from the United States. Earlier in the year, the Manitoba government additionally recruited 13 physicians from the U.S.
Teed also noted that commentary from the Saskatchewan Health Recruitment Agency’s top professional during Tuesday’s media availability was striking.
“She said, and I quote, Saskatchewan is ‘a tough sell.’ I mean, when the head of your recruitment agency says they can’t sell Saskatchewan with this Sask. Party in charge, you know we’ve got a real problem.
Last week, CUPE 5430, who represents nearly 14,000 healthcare workers across the province, announced that they would be holding a strike vote in September. This comes as frontline workers have gone nearly four years without a contract, citing lackluster wage improvements, chronic staff shortages, and heightened workloads, all while still showing up and providing care for residents across the province.
“Healthcare has never been worse in Saskatchewan. This government has completely lost touch with reality — today is just more clear proof of that,” Teed said.
“It’s time for change.”
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