Sask. NDP to address health care, cost of living during fall sitting

Health care and the rising cost of living are both high on the opposition party’s agenda for the upcoming fall sitting in Saskatchewan.

Carla Beck, the leader of the Saskatchewan NDP, said her team assembled in Saskatoon this week to discuss the issues they’ve heard about from Saskatchewan residents and come up with solutions to bring forward in the Legislature next month.

“Health care and the cost of living: Those are the issues my team will be laser-focused on addressing in the run up to the session,” Beck told members of the media on Tuesday.

Beck said MLAs from her caucus have been out knocking on doors, where they’ve heard concerns around access to family doctors. Beck said a lack of access to family medicine leads to poorer health outcomes, and people “who are sicker and sicker showing up in emergency rooms.”

She said NDP critics Vicki Mowat and Matt Love are focusing on the need for recruiting and retaining physicians in the province.

Beck said she believes nurses, physicians and other health-care workers should have a seat at the table when it comes to conversations around health care in Saskatchewan ahead of the next provincial election.

MRI wait lists are another bullet point on Beck’s fall agenda, as she noted the province has some of the longest wait lists for knee and hip surgeries.

“We’re also being hit hardest in this province by inflation and, frankly, government incompetence,” Beck said.

“I don’t know how much the Sask. Party spent on billboards trying to tell you that your life was better instead of actually making it better.”

This Sunday, the minimum wage in the province is set to go up to $14 per hour. Beck said that while every bit helps when people are struggling with the cost of living, small increases in wages won’t do much to help those who are working multiple jobs or using the food bank.

“Hardworking people who’ve never struggled before are having to choose between heating and eating,” Beck said.

The fall sitting begins Oct. 25.