By TERRY PUGH

Access to family physicians and other health care providers was a hot topic at an all-candidates forum in Warman on Monday, October 21.

The forum, organized by the Prairie Sky Chamber of Commerce, featured candidates looking to represent the newly-formed Warman constituency in the October 28 provincial election.

Saskatchewan Party candidate and current MLA Terry Jenson, NDP candidate Erica Baerwald, Saskatchewan United Party candidate Andrea Early and Buffalo Party candidate Mark Friesen took the stage to answer questions posed by moderator Jaycee Turtle.

Health care was a recurring theme. While all candidates agreed the shortage of family physicians and other health care providers is a problem, they differed on the best way of fixing the system.

“There is a great fear in our communities about where we will access doctors and health care workers,” said Baerwald. “The NDP has pledged $1 billion that we would invest into the system for retaining and recruiting health care workers. We would strike up a nursing task force to  listen to front-line health care employees to come up with solutions. We’ll also hire 800 front-line staff and initiate a ‘grow your own’ strategy so that people currently working in the system can receive additional training.”

Jenson said the governing Saskatchewan Party has already adopted a strategy for recruiting, retaining and training health care workers.

“Since September, 2022, we now have 218 physicians that have been recruited in Saskatchewan,” he said. “That includes 87 family physicians and 131 specialists.”

Jenson said the province has also hired 1400 nursing graduates, and 400 internationally-educated nurses have arrived from the Philippines, with 280 of those Filipino nurses already practising in facilities around the province. He said the government has also added 550 training seats in 18 different health care disciplines at the province’s universities, polytechnic and regional college campuses.

Early said her party is proposing a new approach aimed at reducing wait times and improving quality of care. She also suggested “fast-tracking” qualified doctors with foreign credentials looking to practice in Saskatchewan.

Sask United Party candidate Andrea Early and Buffalo Party candidate Mark Friesen (Gazette photo by Terry Pugh)

“Saskatchewan has the lowest rating for health care in Canada,” said Early. “That’s not acceptable. We should be leading in health care, and you can’t fix the problem just by throwing money at it.”

Friesen said his party would fix the health care system by scaling back federal taxes. He added his party would “keep the doctors in Warman” but didn’t provide any specifics.

Candidates also took aim at the issue of affordability.

“People are living paycheque to paycheque,” said Baerwald. “Seniors are worried about how they’ll pay their bills on a fixed income.”

She said the NDP has a plan that includes pausing the provincial fuel tax for six months “from day one” and eliminating the PST on groceries and children’s clothing.

Jenson said the Saskatchewan Party is addressing the affordability issue by doubling the active families benefit and raising the threshold on the amount of income a family can earn before paying income tax. That threshold is currently just over $70,000 for a family of four.

“If we’re re-elected, that threshold will increase again,” said Jenson. “So we would put that money back in your pocket so you can make the choices you need to make in terms of where that money is going.”

Early said her party would make government more efficient and cut wasteful spending. Reducing the tax burden on working families and limiting immigration would also help bring stability to the economy and lower the provincial debt, she stated.

Among the sizeable crowd at the forum were employees with SherCom Industries, a tire recycling company that recently laid off 60 employees due to the loss of a provincial contract that was awarded to an American company. Baerwald and Early earned applause from that section of the audience when they criticized what they termed an unfair deal by the provincial government. Jenson said he spoke up on behalf of the company at the cabinet table, but at the end of the day, it was a decision by a third-party agency, the Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan, which made the decision on the contract.

The forum also saw discussion on education, parental rights, business incentives and economic development, support for small businesses, crime and policing, and how to reduce the incidence of impaired driving.