Health care, SIS program hot topics at cabinet Bear Pit at SUMA

By John Cairns, SASKTODAY.ca

REGINA - Health care, trade, municipal election dates and the Saskatchewan Income Support program were among the popular topics as cabinet ministers took questions from municipal leaders at the final day of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Convention on Wednesday.

The Bear Pit session with the provincial cabinet had to be adjusted somewhat due to weather conditions. With a springtime winter storm wreaking havoc on travel, most of the provincial cabinet including Premier Scott Moe appeared virtually from the radio room of the Legislature in Regina. A smaller number including Government Relations Minister Don McMorris appeared live in Saskatoon at TCU Place.

A wide range of issues were raised but the one which drew the most comments from the floor was on the Saskatchewan Income Support program. Several municipal delegates went to the microphones in Saskatoon and took aim at the program, saying it was responsible for causing an increase to homelessness.

Councillor David Kirton from Saskatoon made the point the increase seen in the budget in 2023 was not enough to keep people off the streets.

“$30 a month is not going to help people housed or stay housed,” said Kirton. He asked if SIS would return with direct payments to landlords and guaranteed utility payments.

Jordan McPhail of La Ronge also raised the SIS issue and took issue with the contention that SIS “was the plan to help people move from tent cities to shelters. When we are hearing time and time again from these people at these tables that SIS is contributing to that, you can’t expect them to believe that SIS is going to be part of that solution.”

Minister of Social Services Gene Makowsky was left to defend what the government was doing on SIS in his responses. On direct pay, he said that “we’ve listened and we’ve been able to increase direct pay for those who need it.”

On McPhail’s point, Makowsky responded it was a “complex issue and complex challenge that is seen right across our nation,” pointing to an increase in shelter spaces in the province, to 500 from 225 when they took government. He also pointed to being able to provide wellness centres with wraparound supports, and also partnerships through Sask Housing Corporation with third parties.

Health care delivery was, as usual, a popular topic. As expected, one of the issues raised was on what the government was doing beyond financial incentives to get doctors into rural communities.

Minister of Health Paul Merriman pointed to bringing in nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and again pointed to incentives in place for chronically vacant positions up to $50,000. “If the municipality or town and the community want to complement that they are more than welcome to do that.”

He also pointed to the benefits seen already from their four point health care plan, pointing to recruiting efforts including the 420 conditional offers to Filipino health workers.

“We’re making some significant investments and we’re starting to see the benefits of that.

People are landing on the ground and filling in the gaps in our health care system.”

Other related issues were raised. Mayor Nancy Brunt from Kamsack asked about personal care homes dealing with inflation and low wages for staff. “An increase of $400 is not sufficient for our residents to pay fees and leave them with anything for spending money.”

She suggested increasing it up to $3,000. Makowsky noted there was a 20 per cent increase in the budget and said this was something they would look at over time. Both he and Minister of Rural and Remote Health Everett Hindley noted this was the first increase in quite some time.

“We’ll continue to monitor this situation,” Hindley said.

Unity Mayor Sharon Del Frari wanted to know why SHA continued to tender out their pharmacy services for long term care, pointing to the closing of some of the pharmacies in their rural area.

Minister Hindley responded the government had made changes, so “essentially if there’s a community with a health care facility and there is only one pharmacy there, that’s a pharmacy that contract would be sole sourced through that pharmacy.” For those with more than one,it would need to be a competitive open process.

Mayor Greg Dionne of Prince Albert asked about the issue of the fixed municipal election date, which currently is set in November within weeks of the provincial election date. He suggested a meeting involving SARM, SUMA and the province to settle the issue.

Minister McMorris said “if SARM and SUMA are in a room and want to hammer out an agreement we’ll have some people there.” McMorris added that he wanted to see a single date recommended by all involved.

Resort Village of Cochin Mayor Harvey Walker asked if the government would start charging school tax to provincial park tenants and pay those to Education.

Minister McMorris said he would get back to him with an answer, while Finance Minister Donna Harpauer noted the issue had been raised a number of times; “we’ll continue to review it for sure,” she said.

The trade video used to market Saskatchewan on trade missions around the world, which was shown to SUMA delegates earlier in the week, was put on blast by Councillor Tony Head of Prince Albert for not showing Indigenous people in the video.

Head asked how they could tell the Saskatchewan story

“highlighting its natural resources and land without including its Indigenous people.”

Minister of Trade and Export Development

Jeremy Harrison responded by noting they had done a number of other videos including with Indigenous representation, noting in particular the one with Meadow Lake Tribal Council about their biomass-bio energy facility. Harrison also pointed to initiatives to help spur Indigenous involvement, noting the government put forward the Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation which he said was a $75 million fund to support Indigenous governments and businesses to participate directly in an equity way on resource, electrical and other projects.