YORKTON - With a provincial election imminent later this year New Democrat MLA Erika Ritchie was in Yorkton last week to hear what local concerns are.
Ritchie said she and local riding candidate Lenore Pinder were meeting “with community leaders” to “see what issues they have.” She said listening is important for the party as it rolls out its platform “prior to the election.”
When it came to what Ritchie was hearing, she said locally in Yorkton, and generally across the province health care is a major concern. She cited 8,600 days provincially where at least some services were closed in Saskatchewan hospitals the last two years.
Asked if the NDP would move ahead with a new hospital in Yorkton, Ritchie would only say that the party would by unveiling its health care plan in the next couple of weeks.
The second issue for Yorkton is job losses, said Ritchie during a press conference on the street in front of City Hall. She said in the Yorkton constituency recent numbers suggest 1,700 fewer in the last year.
Job creation has to be a priority, said Ritchie adding the NDP have already announced it would provide up to $40,000 in a small business loan program to stimulate business development and with it create jobs, adding it is well understood that small business – those with less than 10 employees when taken collectively is a key jobs sector.
Pinder said as a local resident she sees the need to “recognize that exists here” to create jobs and new business and the loan program would do that.
Given recent developments did homelessness come up in talks in Yorkton.
Ritchie said clearly there are concerns suggesting in many ways homelessness “is an affordability issue,” and that reflects back on the need for more and better jobs.
