Opposition leader Cam Broten has some mixed reviews about the past year of activity at the legislature.
On the one hand, he cites a productive year - a year that started out with a leadership race, and ended with the party active in raising a variety of issues in the legislature.
At the same time, he is dissatisfied with some of what he has seen from the Brad Wall government, with Broten critical of what he calls a "dismissive" attitude on a number of issues.
On the positive side, Broten talked recently about "good steps we've been doing in terms of building and working with the province, and in the last session building on the work we've been doing and the things that we've heard from Saskatchewan people."
A lot of ground was covered in the last sitting, Broten said, but three topics that stood out for him were long-term care, education issues, including having the right resources in the classroom, and the need to better diversify the economy.
On long-term care Broten said he is "not satisfied with the response that we see from this government, because it's a response that's still being dismissive and not actually addressing the root causes of the problem."
He did say he was pleased to be able to talk about the issue and share the stories from Saskatchewan people in the legislature and the province.
In the spring sitting, Broten said the response was there was "no cause for alarm" and that "everything was fine."
After the opposition continued to raise the issue, Broten said, "eventually the government caved and said 'OK, we'll do this CEO tour and see what's there.' Well, the report from that tour just really confirmed what families were saying all along, that chronic short-staffing was creating problems in many care facilities."
The government's response, Broten said, was a one-time payment fund, but he said CEOs of major health regions said it wouldn't address the problem of short-staffing.
While not happy with the response, Broten said he was "pleased that in the province now we are talking about this in a bigger way, and that people are expecting and demanding better."
He also called the government "dismissive" in the wake of a highly-critical auditors report earlier this month - a report that had prompted Broten to call on finance minister Ken Krawetz to resign.
"For an auditor to go that far and make an adverse opinion is unprecedented," he said. Broten was critical of the government's "brushing-off" approach to the whole issue and said that was the reason why he called on Krawetz to resign.
On economic diversification, that has become even more of an issue for Broten following the massive layoffs at PotashCorp earlier this month.
"Any time someone loses a job it's of great concern and a tragic thing, but especially with Christmas right around the corner it's all the worse," said Broten.
"This should serve as a wakeup call to this government that a better job needs to be done on diversifying the economy."
While Broten expressed confidence in the future of the resource sector, he was critical of what he calls the government's approach of putting "all its eggs in one basket, and instead of that we need more eggs and more baskets."
Two issues of concern locally in the Battlefords include the public safety issue, which was raised in the legislature this fall.
Broten said it was a topic that came up often in his meetings in the Battlefords, and calls it concerning "when we see this government's approach to not really partner the way they should be with the local community to address the issues."
He notes some good local steps to address the causes of the situation such as the HUB, but was critical of the minister of corrections for saying the community needed to put forward a "business case."
"The case is that North Battleford matters needs the attention from all levels of government to properly address the issue." Broten pledged to continue to call for "real action" and support from the province.
Another important local issue is the replacement of Saskatchewan Hospital. While planning intensified in 2013, shovels are still not in the ground for that project as the year comes to a close.
"The wait, again, is concerning," said Broten. "The slow walking that we've seen from this government on the issue is a big concern when promises have been made."
Broten went on to criticize the government's track record on building public facilities in general, and criticized public-private partnerships or P3s, calling it a recipe for delays and more costs.
"Saskatchewan people and especially those in the Battlefords have a right to ask the tough questions," he said.
Looking ahead to 2014 Broten expects the NDP to continue their focus "based on what we're hearing from families, about what matters to them." He intends to continue to focus on seniors care and better health care, and on education and economic diversification as the key issues in the legislature.
While those will be the focus, Broten pledges his party will raise other issues as well, based on the feedback and emails that they continue to receive. "There's no shortage of things to be talking about," he said.
