HUMBOLDT-WATROUS — Rose Buscholl said if she is elected as MLA for Humboldt-Watrous, her focus would be on job sustainability, funding for mental health, funding for drug rehabilitation, and removing PST on children’s clothes.
Buscholl, who's running for the Progressive Conservatives, previously served on the RM of Colonsay council, and holds a bachelor degree with a major in anthropology and a minor in psychology.
“My main concern right now is keeping people in Saskatchewan working, keeping these businesses open, get people back in Saskatchewan, the mental health aspect, the film tax-credit – and just overall don’t put budget cuts to healthcare and education,” Buscholl said.
“Those are two areas that should never be cut.”
Buscholl said if elected, she would fight for Saskatchewan workers being employed in large construction jobs.
“I want to be able to keep jobs in the province instead of outsourcing them because of the partnership agreement that we have with other provinces,” Buscholl said.
“I see companies closing down all the time and it’s because when it comes to large construction jobs they’re tendered out and big companies from outside of the province get the tender.”
As MLA, Buscholl said she would like to increase funding for drug rehabilitation and for mental health.
“You go to a doctor and you’re diagnosed with anxiety and you’re given a prescription but you’re not given the resources for councillors, and when you do find one they’re not free and a lot of people can’t afford it.”
In practice, Buscholl said this would mean more councilors and looking into bringing back psychiatric specialty nurses.
“They could be a real useful tool when it comes to first responders, and I’m talking about police or volunteer firefighters,” she said.
“Bring back the CISM, Critical Incident Stress Management, these programs were a benefit to people because it gave them the access and availability to counselling when they needed it in a crisis – and they didn’t need to pay for them.”
In terms of taxes, Buscholl said she would like to see the removal of PST on clothes designed for children, as well as what she calls “double taxation.”
“You buy a used vehicle, the PST has already been paid on that vehicle, so why are we paying it again?”
Buscholl said one thing she would like to bring back is the film tax-credit.
“This is a billion dollar industry a year, and the Sask Party cut the tax credit. It’s a tax credit, it isn’t free money,” she said. “They did it because they said it saved millions of dollars. By saving that money that they said, it also took out billions of dollars from the economy. So we need to start bringing that back.”
To get the funding for these focuses, Buscholl said it ties back to giving large Saskatchewan construction jobs to Saskatchewan workers.
“When you have people working, there is that taxation base that comes in. When you don’t have people working you don’t have that taxation base that comes in, then as a result they’re wondering why can’t they balance the budget. Then they start doing cuts to healthcare and education which should never be cut.”
