REGINA — The opposition New Democrats are looking to present a transportation strategy to fill the void left by the closure of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) in 2017.
The NDP is looking to bring forward transportation options aimed at rural and northern communities and launch consultations on the issue.
The news is based on the contents of a mandate letter from Opposition Leader Carla Beck to the party’s newly appointed critic for Highways, Infrastructure and SGI, Darcy Warrington. The letter was provided this week to SaskToday by a source within the NDP.
In the correspondence dated Feb. 9, Beck assigned Warrington the task of developing the transportation strategy.
“I am writing to give you another critical task in this role — developing a transportation strategy with a specific focus on serving rural communities and northern communities more effectively,” the letter from Beck states.
“The Sask. Party closed the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) in 2017, 71 years after it was created by the CCF Government led by Tommy Douglas. This decision cut off transportation for countless Saskatchewan people. It had a significant impact on our seniors, young people, farmers and rural/northern businesses.
“I want to start considering targeted and affordable options to address those problems.
“We are building our plan for change when we form the next Saskatchewan NDP government. I want to reconnect our communities with transportation. I am not being prescriptive on the model yet, but I want you to launch a consultation on the matter and bring back affordable options for consideration. Let’s connect this province. Let’s deliver the change people in this incredible province deserve.”
Beck says the loss of STC continues to come up as an issue to this day
Speaking to SaskToday on Friday, Beck said that even years after the shutdown of STC, she continues to “hear from people who are being impacted to this day, who are unable to attend medical appointments.”
“I've heard of people missing appointments for pacemakers, seniors in particular, difficulty getting to chemo treatments,” she said. “Seniors who are facing the choice of having to leave the community that they have lived their whole life in, because once they're not able to drive on their own reliably anymore, safely, they're not able to get into medical appointments.”
Beck said it was a “pretty big and broad task” she has given Warrington. As for what the NDP could be looking at — whether it is a full return of STC or other options such as ride-shares or other services — Beck said she was “not ruling anything out at this point.”
“The reality is we are already spending money on transportation, things that the STC used to carry — for example, not just people, but goods in the province, whether that's blood products or farm machinery or library books. We're still spending money on that,” she said.
“Sometimes it's communities that have had to step in. I know I was out in Fort Qu'Appelle not long after STC was shuttered and noticed a bus that had been paid for by a local charity, and it was providing transportation to people in that community to attend medical appointments. This is an essential piece of ensuring that people can live and thrive in rural Saskatchewan and in the north — to be able to have safe, reliable transportation for them.”
Beck said that in some ways she is “surprised at how often STC continues to come up in this province as an issue that to this day continues to impact people in a negative way in rural Saskatchewan and in northern Saskatchewan.”
“That's why I've asked Darcy to look into what the options are here. And I trust that he's going to do that work with the stakeholders and come back with some options that we'll look at.”
Transportation service has been a heated topic since the end of STC freight and passenger service in May 2017. The closure of STC has long been opposed by the NDP, and during the 2020 election campaign under then-leader Ryan Meili, the party promised to bring back STC if elected.
When the Sask Party government announced in March 2017 it would end operating and capital subsidies to STC, it cited rising costs and declining ridership, pointing to forecasts that STC would need $85 million in subsidies to continue operating.
Beck said she was in committee at the time when the report on STC was released and said the province failed to account for several costs, including the transportation of library books and blood products, as well as travel to medical appointments.
“And to this day, the promise that this would just simply take care of itself — it has not.”
News of the NDP’s renewed focus on transportation comes with just over two weeks before the Legislature resumes in March. Beck acknowledged it may be unrealistic to return with firm proposals by then but encouraged people interested in the issue to share their ideas with Warrington.
“I expect that there will be a number of people who want to reach out to him and want to be a part of this discussion,” she said. “I'm not going to set down a timeline for that work. I do intend to keep him busy. When he's able to bring the report back to me with some of the options, I'm sure that we'll be happy to talk to the media and the people of the province about that.”
