Dear Editor
Given the NDP track record on agriculture, healthcare and the economy in Saskatchewan, NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter's remarks in the Dec. 15 issue of the Battlefords News-Optimist are hypocritical and ignore the facts.
Dwain Lingenfelter and the NDP failed Saskatchewan families on healthcare.
When Mr. Lingenfelter was deputy premier, doctors and nurses were leaving our province in record numbers. Fifty-two rural hospitals were closed. Saskatchewan had the longest surgical waiting lists in the country. For 16 years, the NDP did not build one new long-term care facility.
Our government is taking action to address the healthcare needs of families in Saskatchewan. We've committed funding for 13 new long-term care centres, with Watrous being the first to get underway this past fall. Through the creation of the Physician Recruitment Agency, we are taking steps to bring more doctors to Saskatchewan. We have significantly increased the number of training seats for medical students and have opened up medical residency training opportunities to centres outside the major cities. We are also taking steps to improve emergency medical service in rural Saskatchewan.
The previous NDP government refused to provide any support to grain producers facing flooding challenges in 2005 and 2007. The NDP also failed to provide support to livestock producers facing excess moisture challenges.
In early July 2010, we partnered with the federal government to make $360 million available to Saskatchewan farmers with flooded crop land through the Excess Moisture Program (EMP). This is the largest one-time provincial agricultural disaster response in Saskatchewan's history. We have provided over $1.2 billion of support to Saskatchewan producers in Crop Insurance and EMP claims this year. In addition, we recently announced the Saskatchewan Feed and Forage Program to assist livestock producers affected by excess moisture.
Dwain Lingenfelter and the NDP were more focused on raising royalty rates, nationalizing resources and driving investment out of the province than standing up for the people of Saskatchewan during the recent hostile takeover bid for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan by BHP Billiton.
Our government took strategic steps to defend our position that Saskatchewan's potash resource belongs to the people of Saskatchewan. We were vigilant in making the case to Ottawa that approving this takeover bid did not provide a net benefit for Saskatchewan or Canada. If BHP Billiton had been successful in its takeover bid, both Saskatchewan and the Canadian economies stood to lose potentially billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. The federal government agreed with our government's position and rejected BHP Billiton's takeover bid. Saskatchewan can be open for business and, at the same time, take steps to protect this strategic resource.
Under the NDP, our economy was stagnant, people were leaving the province, and we were a have-not province.
Our economy is moving forward under the Saskatchewan Party Government. Several economic forecasters are predicting Saskatchewan will lead the nation in economic growth next year. Our population is now at an all-time high and Saskatchewan is the fastest growing province in Canada. Our unemployment rate is the second-lowest in Canada and our average weekly earnings are the third highest in the country.
Even Lingenfelter finally admitted that things aren't so bad here in Saskatchewan. "It's exciting times in Saskatchewan," he recently told the Associated Press. "I don't want to make it sound like there's huge problems because there isn't."
This is yet another example of Lingenfelter saying one thing and doing another. Despite making the comments above, Lingenfelter and the NDP continue to run down our province and its people. His reflections on the fall session of the legislature are evidence of his negative outlook on our economy and the doom, gloom and backwards thinking of the NDP.
After being ignored for 16 years by the previous NDP government, we are working hard to move our economy forward and address the needs of families, farmers, ranchers, businesses, and communities in rural Saskatchewan.
Bob Bjornerud
Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture
