BALGONIE – The opposition New Democrats have announced a new tour this summer to rural communities on the health care issue.
The party said in a news release Wednesday that the tour is being led by their Rural & Remote Health critic Jared Clarke and Associate Health critic Keith Jorgenson.
The tour was launched Wednesday at an NDP media event staged outside Sask Party MLA Brad Crassweller’s White City-Qu’Appelle office.
The NDP says their focus will be on keeping hospital emergency rooms open and also providing up to date information on when closures happen.
The party is particularly pointing to the failure of Clarke’s Bill 606 to make it through the spring sitting, which called for real-time reporting within an hour of emergency room closures.
The Sask Party did not support the bill, pointing instead to changes they made to improve communications to the public about closures. But those reporting changes were not enough for Clarke.
"It's clear the Sask. Party doesn't care about people in a medical emergency in rural Saskatchewan," Clarke said in a statement Wednesday.
"That might sound like a harsh statement, but I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't pass Bill 606. Except for one. They don't want people to see just how bad things are in health care in this province after 20 years with this government."
This latest Opposition health care tour is part of the NDP’s Your Care, Your Say consultations, which recently released its interim report.
