Premier Scott Moe addressed the notion of further restrictions while speaking to representatives at the Municipalities of Saskatchewan convention on Monday. After explaining that the government does not discount or diminish the danger of the pandemic, Moe then discounted entirely the idea of further lockdowns.
“Delegates, the reality is this. No matter how severe lockdowns and public health measures are, they are not going to end this pandemic,” Moe said in his virtual address to the annual meeting of the former SUMA.
“They are simply a stopgap measure to help us get to the finish line. Life will get back to normal when we achieve that finish line which is wide-scale vaccination. And yes we are making some progress thanks to the incredible effort by our frontline staff at the Saskatchewan Health Authority and other health care providers,” he added.
The present goal, as the government has continued to state, is to vaccinate as many people as want to be vaccinated. Moe also continued to point fingers at the Federal Government for any problems with the rollout of vaccines
“The federal government is saying that should occur by the end of September. We would like to see it happen a lot sooner than that but it all depends on the supply of vaccine that we will be providing by as promised by the federal government,” he said.
“Even with Pfizer’s production issues, it is clear that the federal government has over-promised and has underdelivered when it comes to supplying the vaccine in a timely fashion. At least it appears that way in these early days. Many other countries as we know are vaccinating their people at a much faster rate than we are here in Canada.”
Moe explained that approximately 10 per cent of planned vaccine doses had been administered thus far in Phase 1. Over 100 per cent of what has been received has been used. Moe remains optimistic that shipments will pick up in the near future. More details on mass vaccination plan coming tomorrow from Minister of Health Paul Merriman.
Before talking about the present, the Premier talked about the year since the last convention.
Moe emphasized that the initial decision to shut down in March 2020 was one of the toughest decisions of the government.
“But it had to be done, at least temporarily, to protect us,” Moe said.
Moe noted that the province had worked with the municipalities including the fast-tracking of revenue sharing and paying it out in a lump sum instead of installments to help municipalities address any issues that arose during the pandemic.
“Had we not made the fiscal effort in the three years prior to last year, we may not have had the fiscal capacity to make that possible,”
He also highlighted the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP). He explained that $150 million was distributed to communities on a per capita basis to support shovel-ready projects. More than 700 projects across the province were approved in 2020. Moe highlighted projects in Moosomin, Moose Jaw and Assiniboia.
“You were ready to go, you knew what you wanted to do and you got it done and you got it done quickly and professionally like you always do,” Moe said.
He explained that COVID-19 numbers are moving in the right direction just not as quickly as people would like,
“But there is a reason for optimism as we look ahead to this year 2021,”
Moe said that COVID-19 numbers are stabilizing after a bump following the holidays.
“The conversation about public health guidelines continues. The current guidelines as we know are in effect until Feb. 19 at which time they will be revisited. Our government has worked hard to find the right balance between keeping Saskatchewan people safe and keeping the Saskatchewan economy as open as possible and as many people at their jobs as possible,”
He added that the provincial government has heard from members of the group on both sides of the divide on restrictions.
“This debate mirrors the broader discussion that we are having in Saskatchewan, that we are having across this nation,” Moe said.
“But today in our province much of our economy is open and it is operating and it is operating safely.”
The restrictions have managed to keep more businesses open than any other jurisdiction on Canada and most have been responsible, Moe said.
“It’s easy for some to stand up and say we need to lock everything down when they have the opportunity to work from home. The fact of the matter is that thousands of people in Saskatchewan don’t have that opportunity. Many of them are, for example, essential workers making sure that all of us have the essentials that we need for life to continue.”
He explained that COVID-19 numbers are moving in the right direction just not as quickly as people would like,
“But there is a reason for optimism as we look ahead to this year 2021,”
Moe said that COVID-19 numbers are stabilizing after a bump following the holidays.
“The conversation about public health guidelines continues. The current guidelines as we know are in effect until Feb. 19 at which time they will be revisited. Our government has worked hard to find the right balance between keeping Saskatchewan people safe and keeping the Saskatchewan economy as open as possible and as many people at their jobs as possible,”
He added that the provincial government has heard from members of the group on both sides of the divide on restrictions.
“This debate mirrors the broader discussion that we are having in Saskatchewan, that we are having across this nation,” Moe said.
“But today in our province much of our economy is open and it is operating and it is operating safely.”
The restrictions have managed to keep more businesses open than any other jurisdiction on Canada and most have been responsible, Moe said.
“It’s easy for some to stand up and say we need to lock everything down when they have the opportunity to work from home. The fact of the matter is that thousands of people in Saskatchewan don’t have that opportunity. Many of them are, for example, essential workers making sure that all of us have the essentials that we need for life to continue.”
