REGINA - This past week at the Saskatchewan Legislature provided a telling example of the stark difference between being on the government side of the House and being in opposition.
For the 34 Saskatchewan Party MLAs on the government side, they saw their party introduce several bills during the week, including passage on Thursday of their two most important and timely pieces of legislation: the Saskatchewan Affordability Act and its provisions reducing the provincial income tax, and the Carbon Tax Fairness for Families Act which suspends the federal carbon tax on Sask Energy home heating bills for another year.
The government also introduced amendments to The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) Act, the Saskatchewan Employment Act, the Workers’ Compensation Act, and on Thursday to The Safe Public Spaces (Street Weapons) Act which aims to reduce the threat of street weapons, with more bills still to come.
For the expanded caucus of 27 New Democrat MLAs, they had their own plans to introduce emergency motions. But it was a dose of reality that the Official Opposition got this week in terms of who really was still in charge at the Legislature.
Emergency motions from the NDP attempting to call former Regina Northeast MLA Gary Grewal to the Human Services Committee to answer for overbilling of Social Services clients at his hotels, as well as to strike an all-party committee to investigate rising food prices in the North, both got shot down quickly by the Sask Party majority.
Those efforts were frustrated first in the Human Services Committee, where the Saskatchewan Party majority voted to adjourn the meeting before the NDP could even present their motions. It happened again in the Assembly on Thursday when the NDP tried introducing the motions under section 61, which allows motions of "urgent and pressing necessity" to be made by unanimous consent without notice. However, the Sask Party MLAs responded "no" to the Speaker, ending those attempts right then and there.
New Democrats complained afterwards that their motions were being blocked, and that the Saskatchewan Party hadn’t learned from the election results.
“Again, this is a government that continues to say, oh, we've heard that Saskatchewan people wanted change. We've heard that Saskatchewan people demand better of their elected officials, but we see them going back to playing these games, frankly,” said Opposition Leader Carla Beck Thursday.
But there were no apologies coming from the Sask Party for not supporting the NDP motions.
On the Grewal matter, Government House Leader and Minister of Justice/Attorney General Tim McLeod told reporters “that the Conflict of Interest Commissioner has dealt with this matter, and as the Minister of Social Services has said, we're worried about providing the necessary services to the people of Saskatchewan that need them, and that's the focus of attention that we're going to make sure that gets the attention that it deserves.”
“I don't know the last time under any government that a private citizen has been summoned to appear... whether it be a committee or the legislature itself,” was the reaction of Premier Scott Moe.
Beck told reporters at the end of the week that the NDP would continue the fight on both those issues, but how they will do it is still under wraps. On Grewal, Beck said “I can tell you that people of this province expect that there will be some penalty, and we'll have more to say about that in future days.”
Health and education concerns raised at Leg this week
So far, issues of affordability, Opposition concerns about the growing provincial deficit and the Provincial Auditor’s findings, and the Grewal issue have dominated the news from the Legislature this sitting.
But health and education issues were also raised this week, with the NDP bringing the concerns of members of the public to the Assembly.
One of those advocating was Lynn Robertson, who was there this week to speak of her experience not being able to access a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter) in Regina.
“After my third diagnosis of cancer and learning that I need chemotherapy treatments for the third time in my life, I requested a PICC line because my veins are shot. And it's difficult to find a viable vein for blood work and IVs.”
She said her oncologist submitted her request on Oct 17th, but “at that time I was told that the wait list was long, but I was never told how long that wait list was.”
In early November, she discovered from a friend that she could go to Yorkton for the PICC line insertion, and was booked for appointment for Nov. 15th.
“It was disappointing to me that no one in the system told me about this possibility. Unfortunately, the procedure was unsuccessful, and my request was returned to Regina.”
Since that time, she had been getting the runaround, finally being told she would have to wait well into the new year.
“Before today, I had given up hope that I would get a PICC line before my chemotherapy treatments are done in mid-February, but I'm hoping that I can help improve the system for others on the wait list. When the wait lists for PICC lines and port insertions are as long as they are in Regina, it is inexcusable to me that the SaskParty isn't actively trying to reduce these wait lines.”
During Question Period Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said that recruitment of specialists continues to be a priority, and indicated his willingness to meet with Robertson. Robertson confirmed to reporters that the meeting did take place and that she did “make various suggestions to him of things that I know about.”
“A friend of mine in Winnipeg got a PICC line inserted by a nurse practitioner, so you don't always need a specialized radiologist to do that, and that's one of the obstacles in Regina, from what I understand, the long wait list. And the other suggestion I had was just making it more available, if there's other places you could go.”
When Robertson was asked by reporters if she felt heard by minister Cockrill, she replied “I did. I felt heard. But I will wait and see if there is tangible results that come out of that meeting.”
Also this week, the Legislature heard the story of Lindsay Klassen. According to Saskatoon Fairview MLA Vicki Mowat in Question Period, Lindsay was told her son Wyatt, who has special needs, could only attend half days at school because there aren’t enough resources to take him full time.
“Instead of providing help to some of the most vulnerable students, the solution is to send them home, denying them a right to an education,” Klassen told reporters after Question Period. “So there's dozens of people that I've talked to in the education system, and the story is the same. ‘We're sorry. There's nothing we can do. We just don't have the funding.’ So the message is clear from the government. They don't care about what's happening with our children or in the education system. The crisis is impacting families, livelihoods, and futures. It's affected my own ability to work and care for my own family, and we're still fighting for change, and yet no one's listening, and nothing's happening.”
“The minister had a chance to say that this is not acceptable,” said Education Critic Matt Love. “He could not find his words to say that, so I'll say it. It's not acceptable. I want to thank Lindsay for being here to share more about her story and her journey of advocating for her son.”
During Question Period, Minister of Education Everett Hindley said that as part of the $356 million provided in the budget for classroom supports, there was specific targeted funding for educational assistants of $7 million in this year’s budget. He also pointed to an increase in EAs at Saskatoon Public Schools of 148 EAs from last year.
“Does that mean though that we still have perhaps instances of families and students that are requiring support? There certainly is, Mr. Speaker, as evidenced by Lindsay’s case here with her son here today, Mr. Speaker,” Hindley said.
The abbreviated fall sitting of the Saskatchewan Legislature, which started Nov. 25, is slated to continue on Monday and Tuesday of next week. At that time, it is expected MLAs will break and head back to their home constituencies until the session resumes again in March. The government has several more bills on the order paper set to be introduced for first reading during Monday’s sitting.
