NDP Leader Ryan Meili thanked the media for joining him on the edge of a field just outside Regina on Oct. 7. His point was that the Saskatchewan Party had promised in 2012 to build a surgical and outpatient centre there, but had not followed through. The New Democratic Party will do something there, however, if elected, according to Meili.
“We're standing here on the edge of an empty field. It's an empty field that tells us a lot about the Sask. Party's empty promises. This is the site where a surgical centre is supposed to be. A badly-needed facility that was promised by the Sask Party back in 2012, and never built,” Meili said.
That site is across the road from the former Plains Health Centre, which was closed in 1998, and now is the campus for Saskatchewan Polytechnic.
“Under the Sask. Party, as you see here, surgical wait times have been growing at an alarming rate. And it's gotten even worse, since Scott Moe was elected as premier. That was before the pandemic hit, and the situation since has gotten even more critical. People are waiting for too long, often in a lot of pain for surgery that they need, or for badly needed diagnostic tests. The wait list has grown to over 26,000 people, and there are 11,000 fewer surgeries being performed than previous years,” Meili said.
“It's not just more people needing it, we're actually doing less of the work. And the Sask. Party’s experiment with American-style user-pay MRIs has doubled the wait list for this diagnostic imaging. Scott Moe has no plan to fix this, and in fact has plans for deeper cuts to health care and further privatization that will make the problem far worse.”
Meili continued, “An NDP government will get the job done and build a new surgical centre for southern Saskatchewan, a centre that was badly-needed when it was first promised by the Sask. Party in 2012, and is even more necessary now. Heck, maybe we'll call it the Brad Wall Surgical Centre. It doesn't really matter what we call it, New Democrats will get the job done.”
“This new centre will include surgical suites will include diagnostic imaging, pharmacy services, rehabilitation, and outpatient cancer care,” he said.
“Mark my words. If the Sask Party is re-elected, weeks after, we will hear from them that the cupboard is bare, that they have to sell off a Crown. That they have to cut health and education that the promises are making now. Well, it just isn't the right time. It will be more empty fields and more empty promises.”
Meili said the surgical centre would be a $60 million project. When asked if there was an overlap with what the Saskatchewan Party has promised recently, Meili said there was. “They're also talking about new builds, as are we, along with infrastructure repairs. There's a huge infrastructure deficit in schools and hospitals under the Sask. Party that needs to be addressed. The other big difference between the Sask. Party when it comes to building is we'll make sure that we build this with Saskatchewan companies, Saskatchewan workers on the job instead of what they always manage to do, which is send the work to a company from Alberta, Texas or anywhere but right here in Saskatchewan.”
The NDP’s proposed wealth tax will pay for part of it, according to Meili, who added, “The rest of how we will pay for this is by stimulating the economy by making the right investments now.”
Meili said one of the biggest obstacles is having the staff, like nurses, for such facilities. He noted that the Alberta government’s austerity approach is “doing a good job chasing people out of Alberta. They’re welcome to come here. We’d be happy to have them and put them to work.”
In response to the NDP announcement, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe said, “We've been investing in our surgical initiative for a number of years now.”
Moe pointed to a $10 million interim investment in in surgical capacity here in the province last year, and this year’s budget had an additional $20 million in expanding surgical capacity in the province.
He added, “But this does raise a conversation with respect to surgical capacity across the nation post-COVID-19. Our health care systems, not just in Saskatchewan, but across Canada, and potentially even across North America, have been impacted by COVID-19, with the capacities that we have been able to put forward, in particular, in the early days of COVID. We're in a very strong place now, with our diagnostics and surgical capacity.
“It is going to continue to require investment. The NDP have put forward a capital investment plan again, with no plan on how to pay for that capital investment. What we have done, and will continue to do, is to increase our investment in the operations and the surgical capacity that we have in our existing facilities across the province. We have a record of doing so. We have a record of shrinking our wait times here in the province. And I think the people of the province can look to our record as to what they can expect in the in the next number of years.”
Moe said their goal is surgical capacity, whether that is surgical centre is built, or other ways of achieving it. “If there's added capacity that is needed in physical nature, as we move forward, if we are re-elected as a Saskatchewan Party government, that will be there.”
