REGINA — Opposition Leader Carla Beck and the NDP are accusing the Sask Party government of a lack of leadership in response to the province’s wildfires.
Beck spoke to reporters at the Legislature soon after Premier Scott Moe spoke in Saskatoon. In her remarks Beck pointed to the people in the province who had “stepped up and shown incredible leadership.”
“There has been so much leadership shown by people across this province, but unfortunately, that leadership, that same leadership has not been shown by our provincial government.”
As for Premier Moe saying that there is a plan in place, Beck’s response was that “he needs to know very clearly that that plan is not working.”
“And again today, we saw admittedly financial aid that is desperately needed by many in this province, but it appears that the plan was written on the back of a napkin after the Premier rightfully got it handed to him by an independent officer of the legislature because of how they've handled these fires.”
The Opposition leader was referring to the news conference from Provincial Ombudsman Sharon Pratchler the previous day, who called for action right away to address concerns about a lack of supports for evacuees of the wildfires.
Beck told reporters that right now they “continue to be concerned about safety. We continue to be concerned about supports for those who have been evacuated and supports helping them return to their home communities.
“And we continue to be incredibly concerned about the lack of coordination and communication, clear communication from this Premier. This is the first time we've seen the Premier in over a week, and he comes with a plan that is very light on details.”
Beck was especially critical of Moe’s announcement of $500 apiece in direct assistance to wildfire evacuees, in a program to be administered by municipal piloted and tribal councils. Beck said people were reaching out for answers on how this would be administered.
“Right now, from the details that we heard from the Premier, it's possible that you could have a single mom with three kids who gets half of what a couple gets. There appears that there's going to be a lot of confusion… People have been through enough already. Those leaders who are going to be asked to administer this program have been through a lot. Again, there's been a lot of leadership shown over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, we haven't seen that leadership from this government or from our Premier.”
Beck also pointed to the situation in provinces like Manitoba, where there’s is a central evacuee list and direct e-transfers.
“It's a pretty simple program. It doesn't need to involve, you know, those local leaders who have already been through so much,” said Beck.
Beck said e-transfers would be something that would be simpler to administer.
“You know, we've heard the program, the previous program that was announced, people only being able to get groceries every day, sometimes designated for a grocery store that's 300 kilometers away. Well, that's not terribly useful. You know, maybe what they needed was gas instead of groceries.”
Beck said she was not disputing the fact that aid was needed. “I would just like for once this government to put a plan in place and some forethought, but again, that's not what we've seen throughout these fires.”
She also reiterated there should have been a plan in place earlier.
“There was a question that MLA (Jordan) McPhail asked in the legislature about the budget, specifically about planning for wildfires. I heard the Premier again today say they had a plan. Well, they didn't have a plan… This is chronically an issue that the government has. They don't put enough in the budget for forest fires. They seem to be very reluctant to plan ahead for issues like this, and unfortunately, we see what happens when a government isn't planned for an emergency.”
