Saskatchewan NDP leader Cam Broten was back in the Battlefords Sept. 17 as he brought his "listening tour" to the community.
It was part of the opposition leader's extensive tour of the province this summer getting feedback from ordinary people at the grassroots level on the issues facing the province.
In talking with the News-Optimist, Broten said he was meeting with seniors, health care workers and party faithful throughout the day.
"What I have really been doing all summer is travelling the province," said Broten, spanning from La Loche all the way to Estevan. It's a tour he expects to continue in the coming weeks until the return of the legislature in October.
Broten's goal Tuesday was to "hear what's going on, what are the concerns of the community, and the areas we need to do better."
He planned to follow it up the next day by heading to Lloydminster for similar meetings.
A major focus of his tour was health care and senior care issues. Broten said he has heard a great deal about senior care.
"The level of quality of care, in many instances, just isn't what it needs to be for our grandparents," said Broten. He pointed to problems with "chronic understaffing in care facilities," resulting in care that isn't appropriate.
Broten said he heard stories of "call buttons going off and not being answered, seniors not having help at mealtime, seniors missing baths for over a week at a time."
At one meeting during his tour, Broten recalled one woman telling him that when it came time for her to go into a care facility that she would rather they "hit me over the head with a shovel, because I don't want to face that."
It was a comment the NDP leader found heartbreaking.
"To me that's a sad statement and a wrong statement, because the level of care needs to be so much better in the province than what it is, based on what I've heard from families," he said.
The Battlefords visit comes at an eventful time for Broten and for the NDP. Just the week before, federal opposition leader Thomas Mulcair and the national NDP caucus held their meetings in Saskatoon, which Broten attended.
Broten said he was able to bring up issues concerning Saskatchewan people at that time, such as the need for better seniors care, and also education issues.
"We've seen this government make a mess of the education sector based on what I've heard from parents, teachers and educators," said Broten.
He pointed to "priorities all in the wrong places, such a focus on standardized testing but not looking at what's needed for our classrooms, not looking at smaller classroom sizes for a number of students in a class, and a real failure to listen to students and parents and educators."
It was right after the federal NDP meetings in Saskatoon that news broke of the mini-shuffle in the provincial cabinet with the departure of Russ Marchuk from the education portfolio, to be replaced by Don Morgan.
While Broten praised Marchuk's commitment to education he made it known he thought Marchuk was saddled with a flawed agenda from the start.
Marchuk, Broten said, "needs to be thanked for his many years of service as a teacher, a principal and a school trustee. I've heard from many people who speak well of his service that he did in that period of time. And I could imagine it's very difficult to have that background in education, but then be given an agenda from the premier's office of what this government wants to do in education and as the minister not believing in it."
"It would be a very difficult situation. I think we've seen that play out. It's hard to really push an agenda that one would know is flawed as an educator," said Broten.
Broten had expressed similar sentiments on Twitter to Marchuk's departure, prompting a news release and statement from Green Party leader Victor Lau who accused Broten of seeming to be "sorry to see Russ Marchuk step down as Education Minister."
"Does this mean that Cam Broten supports standardized testing in schools? Broten needs to clarify how he feels about the government's track record on education issues, given his comments about Marchuk," Lau's statement read.
Broten was unimpressed by the Green leader's missive.
"I've clearly said, as has our party, this government's sole tunnel-vision focus on standardized testing is misplaced, when all the other jurisdictions, practically all the other jurisdictions, are going in the opposite direction when all the academics and educators say that this isn't the path we should be going, it's not the best practice. It's puzzling why the government goes down this road."
"I've been pretty clear," said Broten. "I think if they checked out Hansard or any of the many statements I've made they'd know our position, and my position."
Broten also commented on the recent all-party traffic safety committee recommendations put forward this summer. The committee included Battlefords MLA Herb Cox.
While the committee agreed on most recommendations, both NDP members on that committee tacked on a dissenting minority opinion where they called for three-day vehicle impoundment to begin with blood-alcohol readings of .05, as opposed to the .08 that Sask. Party committee members had called for.
"We were really puzzled and concerned the Sask. Party wouldn't adopt the one tougher measure," said Broten.
The additional recommendation was made "because I think it's a common sense thing. We've seen how in the other provinces how it really has improved safety and I believe worked towards saving lives and preventing deaths and injuries."
