MOOSE JAW — The Saskatchewan Party and the Saskatchewan NDP were both in Moose Jaw on Oct. 17 to make several announcements as part of the 2024 provincial election campaign.
Rink, playground grants
Premier Scott Moe announced that a re-elected Saskatchewan Party government would increase financial support for recreational venues in Saskatchewan communities by doubling the community rink affordability grant and introducing a new school playground equipment grant.
“We understand how important rinks and playgrounds are to Saskatchewan communities,” said Moe. “We want to make sure our communities remain vibrant and growing, and good recreational facilities are an important part of any community.”
The Saskatchewan Party government created the community rink affordability grant in 2012, fulfilling a 2011 election promise. The grant provides $2,500 per ice surface to skating and curling rinks across Saskatchewan. Beginning next year, the grant will double to $5,000 per ice surface, reflecting the increased cost of operating rinks.
Moe also pledged to create a new school playground equipment fund of $3.75 million annually to help fund 50 per cent of the cost of new school playground equipment to a maximum grant per playground project of $50,000. The grant is expected to fund 75 projects per year or 300 over the next four years.
“Vibrant, growing communities with a great quality of life - that’s part of our plan for a strong economy and a bright future,” Moe said.
Playgrounds and classrooms
NDP Leader Carla Beck announced that an NDP Government would make a generational investment in education, ensuring students have quality classrooms to learn in and playgrounds to play on.
Her plan includes a $2-billion investment to hire teachers, reduce class sizes and improve learning supports for students. Her goal is to correct years and years of failure by Scott Moe and the Sask. Party to provide kids with the education they deserve.
During Moe’s time as premier, 15,000 new students enrolled in Saskatchewan schools and only one new teacher was hired, she said. His election campaign platform will lead to even deeper cuts to Saskatchewan classrooms, robbing even more kids of their education.
Beck is also proposing a plan to revitalize Saskatchewan communities by allowing groups to apply for funding for municipal infrastructure — everything from community halls to rinks to playgrounds.
Leaked health-care memo
The NDP says people in Moose Jaw suffering from a stroke or other form of medical trauma were denied health care in the city on multiple occasions over the summer, while their only option was to be rushed to hospitals in Regina, 50 minutes away.
“Scott Moe and the Sask. Party government have driven healthcare here into last place, and they’ve put lives at risk,” said Meara Conway, Saskatchewan NDP candidate for Regina Elphinstone Centre.
“Moose Jaw is one of the largest cities in our province and people there are being denied critical, lifesaving healthcare. This is unacceptable. It’s time for change.”
The memos, provided to the Saskatchewan NDP by deeply concerned front-line health-care workers, indicate that on five days in July and three days in August there were no available medical radiation technologists.
As a result, the memo states, “All patients requiring CT services will need to be sent to Regina General Hospital for imaging,” and, “Stroke and Trauma patients will be bypassed from the Dr. F.H. Wigmore Regional Hospital (in Moose Jaw) to the Regina General Hospital.”
“(Premier Moe) won’t even acknowledge there’s a problem so he certainly can’t be trusted to fix it,” Conway said. “The people of Moose Jaw deserve healthcare that’s there for them when they need it.”
Over the weekend, similar memos surfaced detailing active service blackouts in Regina due to a lack of interventional radiologists, the NDP said. The notice stated that several critical procedures, including the setting of PICC lines, would not be possible and patients may be forced to transfer to Saskatoon. Physicians have said this blackout could endanger lives.
As well, Saskatoon has been plagued by overrun emergency rooms and lack of medical supplies for weeks.
“The people of Saskatchewan I’m talking to are extremely concerned that health care won’t be there for them and their loved ones when they need it most,” Conway said. “They want a plan to fix healthcare and that’s exactly what Carla Beck and a Saskatchewan NDP is going to deliver.”
Beck has committed to invest $1.1 billion in health care to hire, train, recruit and retain health-care workers, open emergency rooms and expand surgical capacity, among other initiatives. Her plan will lead to thousands more people working on the front lines in Saskatchewan hospitals and clinics.
