Provincial NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter is spending the summer touring the province and talking to Saskatchewan residents. He was recently in Yorkton with local candidate Chad Blenkin to discuss the issues relevant to this area of the province.
One of the NDP's primary focuses this year, and heading into the election campaign in the fall, is housing. The party has made rent control a key part of their platform, and also are planning to focus on new construction of affordable housing.
Lingenfelter says that a plan to build more affordable housing requires cooperation from all levels of government and the private sector to build "hundreds" of new homes in the Yorkton area, and thousands province-wide.
"This has happened in many regions in Canada, it's happened here before in Saskatchewan, where we've had a booming economy and a shortage of housing, where governments get together with the private sector to build a lot of new units that are affordable to the average family. It's not something new or radical, it just takes a commitment, and I think the provincial government has missed the boat on this, because after four years the problem of housing is worse," he says.
Lingenfelter suggests that such a plan would require a large amount of money, over $100 million. He says that the province would get that money from revised potash royalty rates.
In his conversations with local constituents, Blenkin says that a housing plan is one of the main priorities for many people in the area. He notes that business owners are having difficulty recruiting and retaining employees due to the housing shortage, and some even have difficulty finding homes for themselves.
"They can't pay enough wage, and even if they increase the wage, there isn't enough housing," Blenkin says.
Recruitment and retention of medical professionals is another area which the provincial NDP sees as being a priority. Lingenfelter says there needs to be recruitment by the department of health, rather than having municipalities go it alone. Blenkin says that this is obvious in Yorkton, which has been lacking a cardiologist.
"People are taking advantage of TeleHealth to get their prescriptions from a cardiologist in Regina."
"That's how they're making do, which is pretty scary that our healthcare has gotten to that point," Blenkin notes.
Lingenfelter adds that physician recruitment needs to begin at home, at universities. He cites that 50 per cent of new doctors leave the province, and twice as many doctors move out than stay in the province.
With the cost of living going up in the province, Lingenfelter says that many are having difficulty making ends meet. He suggests that there needs to be increases in minimum wage and increases in wages for teachers and health care personnel. He suggests that combining programs like rent control with wage increases for those working in the province would help families.
Blenkin says that post secondary education is also a concern in the area, with some frustrated that the planned expansion of Parkland College is still being delayed. He says many want economic growth to benefit local people, and post secondary education is part of that.
Lingenfelter says education overall would be a major focus of his party. He says he wants to child care spots increase from where they are currently, which is one spot for every ten kids, and he wants to see teachers receive a more generous pay increase to ensure that the education system remains strong.
"Starting right with child care and early learning will be a priority of a newly elected New Democratic government, because my view is that the foundation of a strong economy is the education system. I want to make sure that the people coming into the system who do the teaching, whether it's those who take care of our children, teach them from grade 1 to 12 or teach in our universities, that these are the cream of the crop," Lingenfelter concludes.
