The province's official Opposition, the New Democratic Party, is heading into 2012 with greatly reduced ranks in the Legislature, with nine member MLAs now, but they are fully prepared to hold the Wall government to account both inside and outside th
The province's official Opposition, the New Democratic Party, is heading into 2012 with greatly reduced ranks in the Legislature, with nine member MLAs now, but they are fully prepared to hold the Wall government to account both inside and outside the House.
In a year-end interview, interim leader John Nilson said they went into the recent two-week session with some trepidation as to how they would handle it.
"We were a bit apprehensive going into the session, but we have very capable people. Every single member had a chance to participate and get their feet wet," said Nilson, adding, "At the end of two weeks we were quite proud of what we were able to do."
What's more, he said, he feels the NDP is ready to hold the government to account for the coming four years before the next provincial election.
In the election held in November, the NDP lost significant ground as they were reduced down to nine MLAs.
One good aspect of that, said Nilson, is that eight of the nine MLAs are experienced, and the one new MLA is Cathy Sproule, a lawyer who is experienced in some aspects of governance such as education.
"We have to make sure every moment is spent to its best use," he said. "We're also getting ready for the spring budget."
He added the work on what they will address in the spring began the day after the two-week session ended in the Legislature.
Some of the top issues they are working on include affordable housing, and health care, particularly as the NDP takes issue with the use of private clinics for the provision of some services.
On housing, Nilson said, "That's really the number one issue. You have people who can't afford rent, and the food bank lines appear to be getting longer and longer. All these things point to a difficult issue."
In addition, Nilson said the party is unhappy that SaskTel has had its dividends stripped away in the last few years to be used for other purposes, and now problems are appearing, such as with the MAX TV service, where dollars are needed to help upgrade their infrastructure.
