For immediate release: October 15, 2024
Scott Moe Plans Devastating Cuts To Saskatchewan Health Care, His Health Minister Opened Door To Selling Off Hospitals In The Past
SASKATOON — Scott Moe’s election-campaign platform will lead to deep cuts to Saskatchewan health care and his Health Minister has opened the door to selling off hospitals.
“I believe we’ve only seen the start of the damage they will do,” said Vicki Mowat, Saskatchewan NDP candidate for Saskatoon Fairview. “Scott Moe refuses to even acknowledge the problems being faced every minute of every day in our hospitals — that’s the very first step to ending the crisis. Now, he’s set to make things worse.”
Over the weekend, Moe released his election-campaign platform, which fails to invest a single additional cent in overwhelmed Saskatchewan hospitals and clinics. When factoring in inflation and population growth, the Sask. Party would be forced to make cuts.
Mowat pointed to Alberta as evidence of the damage that could be coming to Saskatchewan health care. There, Premier Danielle Smith stated in August that she plans to remove hospitals from Alberta Health Services and turn them over to third-party, private operators to cause “fear” in the public healthcare system. Her comments were soundly rejected by Alberta doctors and frontline healthcare workers, who said the move would cause chaos and threaten the quality of public healthcare as well as access to it.
But in Saskatchewan, Moe’s appointed Health Minister, Everett Hindley, expressed his openness to the idea when responding to a direct question about Smith’s plan days later in August, saying: “It's important for us as a government to make sure that we're open to any and all possibilities when it comes to innovative ways to deliver health-care.” (Audio file attached).
Mowat said the focus needs to be on improving public health care and ending the crisis, not potential privatization. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” she said. On Oct. 28, Saskatchewan can vote for change. Together we can save public health care.”
In contrast to Scott Moe and the Sask. Party’s plan of more health care cuts, Carla Beck and the Saskatchewan NDP have committed to investing $1.1 billion more in health care, taking the pressure off emergency rooms, and working with health-care workers to restore respect and address challenges head-on.
Beck has also committed to extending the emergency room hours at the Saskatoon City Hospital to 24/7.
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