REGINA — With a short week due to the Family Day long weekend and time running short before the Legislature returns March 2, the main parties spent the week preparing with a focus on their key issues.
One simmering issue for the government was finally put to bed early in the week, with news Tuesday that the province and the Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan had paid a $4.8-million settlement of claims to Shercom Industries of Saskatoon.
The settlement followed years of controversy over the end of Shercom’s tenure as tire processor for the province, with Shercom claiming it was wrongly excluded from the tire recycling business.
With the announcement, Shercom said it accepted the payment as full and final satisfaction of its claims, while the province stated in a news release that it was not an admission of liability by the Government of Saskatchewan or any of the defendants in the case.
Details of the settlement were confidential and, for that reason, officials from the government and Opposition had little to say in the days following the province’s release.
Beyond that, much of the focus of Saskatchewan residents this week was not on provincial politics but on the snowstorm that swept through midweek. Regina reported 25 centimetres of snow, its largest snowfall of the winter.
The winter storm and its aftermath appeared to overshadow several NDP news conferences held throughout the week to promote issues and messaging ahead of the Legislature’s return.
On Wednesday, with the snowstorm ongoing outside, Opposition Leader Carla Beck held a news conference criticizing Premier Scott Moe over $654 million in special warrants spending issued through orders in council over the long weekend.
Just over half of that spending was on health care, according to the orders in council posted on the government’s website. In response, the government dismissed the NDP as continuing to “be an unserious opposition.”
The NDP also held several news conferences this week on health care, focusing in particular on wait times and continued shortages of family doctors.
The party pointed to leaked Saskatchewan Health Authority documents showing wait times of more than 100 hours at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon for emergency care, and waits of between 40 and 80 hours at other hospitals.
In response, the government accused the NDP of mischaracterizing the SHA data, with the SHA issuing statements saying the wait times referenced in the leaked documents did not represent the time it takes to receive care or have access to an emergency physician.
One major piece of news to emerge from the NDP was word they plan to introduce another private members' bill during the spring sitting, this one aimed at stopping the rate hikes by Sask Power and SGI.
A few NDP MLAs were openly promoting the proposed legislation on their social media channels as the week ended, but it is unlikely to receive the support from the Sask Party majority in the Assembly.
