On so many fronts, the Scott Moe government is failing the people of Saskatchewan. Even when it looks like it is doing the right thing, it is too little, too late.
For over two years, I brought attention to the desperate state of Seniors who rely on the Personal Care Home Benefit (PCHB). FINALLY, in the March 2023 Budget, the PCHB was raised from a cap of $2000 to $2400. But by that time, inflation had already eaten up any gains and many Seniors are still unable to pay the cost of a private care home. One wonders if that is one of the reasons several private care homes in Regina and Saskatoon announced closures last month.
This summer, because of pressure brought by outraged parents’ groups and myself, the government announced it would ‘pause’ sexual education programs delivered by Planned Parenthood and embedding the ARC Foundation’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) program into all curriculum. But did the government even know its own bureaucrats were already in discussion on how to roll out these programs into Saskatchewan schools?
I had already been raising the issues of falling grades, lack of adequate student assessments, and inaccessibility of school administrations and school boards to parents. In some school districts this is at a crisis level and only now, has this government started to open its eyes.
This government is asleep at the wheel while the federal government infiltrates our Rural Municipalities with United Nations inspired programs that force producers to report on every aspect of their property down to the last chicken. Rural people are now forming groups, trying to hold their RM Councils to account while it should have been the province scrutinizing the harms. This Scott Moe government has not even begun to address the firestorm that is brewing on this front.
In a few short years, our health care, once admired by the rest of Canada, is now in shambles. Too late to help anyone today, this government knee-jerks into action, finally announcing more local training seats to supplement their medical personnel poaching program in the Phillipines. We should have been training more of our own people earlier to meet the demands we knew were coming with an aging population.
A similar situation occurred last year with the Veterinarian shortage facing the Prince Albert area. I wrote to the government in support of expanded training and to make our region eligible for the Loan Forgiveness Program. After I published the letter in support of a lobby by a local Veterinary clinic, the government complied.
In recent days, many Saskatchewan people are quite happy that Premier Moe has challenged the federal government to take the Carbon Tax from natural gas or else his government will stop collecting it in January of 2024. But why the wait for January? Why not now?
Premier Scott Moe has neglected to say why he has put a delay on his threat. By January, Saskatchewan residents will already have paid bills with Carbon Tax they cannot afford today. And what about Saskatchewan people who heat with electricity, or propane? Too little. Too late.
Because this government refused to listen to constituents across the province, it was blindsided on all of these issues and many more such as skyrocketing crime and mental health and addictions.
Scott Moe needs to get ahead of the curve and stop playing ‘catch up’.
