By Greg Nikkel
Questions on issues ranging from the Energy East pipeline and property assessment to health care costs and seniors care were fired at four of the five candidates at the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce’s candidates forum on March 22 at the Legion Hall.
In attendance were Karen Wormsbecker of the NDP, Barry Dickie of the Green Party, Glenn Pohl of the PC Party, and incumbent Dustin Duncan of the Sask Party. Liberal Dylan Hart was invited but indicated he was not able to attend the forum.
The chamber asked the first four questions of the night, then the microphone was opened to the public to bring any question forward they wanted.
Among the questions asked by the chamber was a query asking how the candidate’s party would improve access to markets for the many raw resources produced in Saskatchewan.
Pohl commented that more trucks on the road is not needed, but better use of the railway system is, noting that this riding has a major line of CP Rail with a direct connection to Chicago and to the West Coast.
The NDP will work with other provinces to achieve market access and to ensure Saskatchewan is getting the best value for their resources, said Wormsbecker.
Duncan noted that Saskatchewan exports more than B.C. does, and this province doesn’t have an open water port like the West Coast does. He added that the Sask Party has made a major commitment to do more to improve the highway system in this province, to enhance the accessability to markets, and said the province needs someone who will stand up for Saskatchewan, as Premier Wall has done.
Dickie pointed out that in 1911, Sir Wilfrid Laurier toured Canada by rail, including many stops through Saskatchewan, but over 100 years later, “one of the issues we’re fighting with is rail service. We can’t get rail cars, and I know this is going to be an issue going forward.”
He commented further that many of the highways “are in such bad shape, we’re not using them as much as we could.”
Another chamber question noted that health care costs are more than half of the budget.
The candidates were asked which “service models do you believe the province should implement?”
Wormsbecker began by pointing out that a majority of Saskatchewan residents do not want two-tiered health care, and that care “should be determined by medical need, not by your ability to pay. We will address waste in health care by scrapping Lean, and listen to the common sense of health care workers.”
She added the NDP would look to stop charging the highest ambulance fees in Canada, and said as an RN, “I can tell you thehealth care system is worse off than it’s ever been.”
Duncan, who served as Health minister up until the election call, defended the record of his government in health care, such as expanding the use of CAT scans and cutting down the massive waiting times that existed under the NDP.
“We no longer have 18-month waiting times,” he said.
Dickie said one way to deal with the costs of health care is address the fact that many diseases are preventable, caused by poverty or poor lifestyle choices.
“We must look at health care differently. It starts when citizens live a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
“I don’t like a two-tiered system. I’m not in the top 10 per cent. I don’t understand a lot about medicine, but I do understand Lean. It’s a great program in Japan, but it’s not a good program in health care. Its goal is to get the front line worker to talk to management and make things more efficient. What we do is figure how we can cut more jobs with it,” said Pohl.
Audience member Randy Schiller asked the candidates if they are in favour of the Energy East pipeline project.
First to answer was Duncan, who noted Premier Wall was a strong proponent of the project and of its ability to give oil producers access to other markets. Without this pipeline, he added, Canada basically only has one customer for its oil, the United States.
“I have mixed feelings,” said Dickie, pointing he’s heard that the Bakken oil field will be pumped dry in about 20 years, and said Canadians should instead be developing alternative energy sources to oil.
“The pipeline has to go in. There’s no way we can move this much oil by rail or by truck. It’s going to happen, we just have to move through some barriers,” said Pohl.
The NDP believes in responsible pipeline development with consideration given to its impact on the environment, said Wormsbecker.
Audience member Margaret Lukey asked about the issue of privatization, and whether it can be reversed once something owned by a Crown has been privatized.
Dickie addressed his remarks to the issue of privatizing liquor stores, and noted after he’s manned a Salvation Army kettle in the local liquor store, he realized how much revenue the store creates.
“I don’t like privatization,” said Pohl. “It’s taking away jobs from people who have good paying jobs and giving them minimum wage jobs that can’t support the economy. We’re so lucky to live in Saskatchewan.”
Wormsbecker added that “we need to keep fighting” against privatization.
Duncan pointed out that in Saskatoon, the province’s biggest private liquor store is run by the Co-op, and in the Weyburn-Big Muddy riding, there are 12 locations with private liquor stores.
“We already have a mixed system,” he added.
Audience member Vicky O’Dell noted that laundry services for health care regions was lost to an Alberta company, and asked the candidates what they would do to ensure jobs stay in Saskatchewan.
Duncan pointed out that the laundry services are in Saskatchewan, as the Alberta company operates a service in Regina to do laundry care at a centralized location, with 150 unionized jobs provided.
“This was a very difficult decision,” he said, and noted it came down to avoiding the need to build a $30 million facility for laundry services.
“I think it’s deplorable to have jobs move out of Saskatchewan. Why don’t we keep the jobs local?” asked Pohl.
“Contracting out hurts jobs for Saskatchewan people, and we need the jobs here at home,” said Wormsbecker.
