The “official” election campaign began on Tuesday, but in truth the two main parties in Saskatchewan have been campaigning and commenting on each other’s policies.
There are other parties in this election, such as the Buffalo Party, but the main ones people will be hearing from are the Sask Party and the NDP, and neither one has wasted any time getting out on the campaign trail and doing photo ops for the cameras.
This campaign will be more virtual and in the media than in past years, thanks to COVID, but this just means voters need to pay more attention to what their candidates and the leaders are saying on the issues, especially the issues that matter to them.
For many people, with school just underway for a month now, education is a big concern, and as we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care is another big issue that we want to hear positions on.
Teachers and students are trying to make the best of a bad situation as they go through classes, whether online or in person at school.
There is a higher number of online students for Southeast Cornerstone (and for other school divisions also), so clearly some parents are just not feeling comfortable yet about having their kids in school. Perhaps as school goes on and the situation becomes settled somewhat, this may change over time — but then, nobody really knows how the pandemic is going to play out, and other factors may come up.
We need to hear more from each of the parties how they’re going to handle COVID-19, as this is a pressing issue that is impacting the lives of every person, no matter what age or income level or vocation.
Other education issues include class sizes and the staffing of schools, not to mention funding for the school divisions, as issues that impact on the quality of education at the school level.
Other health care issues are also in need of attention, such as the coming flu season, the shortage of doctors in Weyburn, and the quality of long-term care for our seniors. The city has finally had word of the new hospital to be built here, but the question then arises how it will be staffed if there is a drastic need for more physicians.
Municipalities have an interest in this election with the state of funding for infrastructure and revenue-sharing as two big issues for them.
The major economic sectors of agriculture and the oil industry have issues that are particular to their needs. Unfortunately both sectors are largely ignored by the federal government, but the provincial government can address some of the issues that are under their purview, and the parties and the candidates running in the election need to put forward their views on how to address them.
