It was the last session of the legislature before the upcoming provincial election, and provincial NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter feels the party is focused and ready.
"Our members are pumped. We've got a lot of new candidates that are out there feeding us information, they've become researchers for us," Lingenfelter said during a recent telephone interview with The News Review.
The NDP is focused on the housing problems in the province. Lingenfelter notes that the party has seen more questions about housing than ever before, and describes the housing situation in Saskatchewan as being in crisis. He is critical of the Wall government's handling of the housing situation, and says that they "simply haven't dealt with it."
"Eighty per cent of Canadians have the protection of rent control, and in Saskatchewan where rent is the highest we need rent control more than anywhere else."
Another issue that the NDP is making a priority is resource revenue. Lingenfelter says that the royalty rates are in need of review, and that the NDP is committed to establishing a review panel to increase royalty rates to fund education, healthcare and daycare programs.
Doctor recruitment is another issue that Lingenfelter sees as a priority in the province, and he says that the party is working with communities to find a solution.
"We're working hard with communities on doctor retention and recruitment. We just believe that it has to be the responsibility of the provincial government, not local government, it's just too expensive for each to community to be competing with doctors," he says.
He also says that physician recruitment province-wide will help reduce waiting lists as more staff can handle more problems.
Lingenfelter says that the provincial party has been buoyed by the large increases the federal NDP has seen in the recent federal election, and he says the party is optimistic that they will be competitive come November. He says that local candidate Chad Blenkin is doing good work.
"They're pretty excited about their potential in Yorkton," Lingenfelter concludes.
