Saskatchewan New Democratic Party Leader Ryan Meili would bring back STC and encourage solar power generation on farms as part of his party鈥檚 rural strategy.
Between Oct. 16 and Oct. 19, all six party leaders were asked the same set of five questions focusing on issues facing rural Saskatchewan. Meili responded by phone from Saskatoon on Oct. 16.
Municipal Infrastructure
Asked about the infrastructure deficit facing rural municipalities and towns, given depopulation is a continuing trend, Meili said, 鈥淲e have to recognize a lot of our communities were built many decades ago. There鈥檚 a lot of services that have to be provided and municipalities are having a tougher time doing that. You also have a lot of folks out of work. So, as we're putting money into addressing the infrastructure deficit in our schools, in our hospitals, we also need to be thinking of our small towns and cities, as well and how to work to put people to work at same time as we fix up some of these essential services."
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be continuing on with the revenue sharing that鈥檚 in place. And we鈥檙e going to be working with municipalities to provide key infrastructure projects," Meili added.
He noted a distinction between the NDP and the Sask. Party is 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to make sure as we鈥檙e doing that, we use local workers.鈥�
Keeping agriculture a priority
With the continuing trend toward fewer rural residents, what will the NDP do if elected to ensure agriculture remains a priority for the government?听 Meili said, 鈥淎griculture is the backbone of our province. I鈥檓 a farm kid myself.鈥�
He added most people in the province have a connection to farming and agriculture.
The NDP would change the margin level on AgriStability to 85 per cent to help farmers in tough years, noting it鈥檚 been dropped down to 70 per cent for producers.
鈥淲e鈥檙e also going to make sure folks can take advantage of the opportunities that we have in renewable energy, to produce power on their own property with our Renew Saskatchewan program.鈥�
Using solar energy could lower their power bills, he said, likening it to another crop producing power instead of grain.
Meili said they would also bring back STC, which would help farmers ship parts.听听
Bolstering rural health care
With regards to keeping rural emergency rooms open and having sufficient doctors in rural facilities, like Preeceville, Meili, a physician himself, said, 鈥淚 worked as a rural family doc in my earliest years of practice and have seen, especially in recent years, the challenges to provide that care.鈥�
He noted the Saskatchewan Party closed 12 rural emergency rooms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and three still have not reopened.
鈥淲e need to do the work to re-open every single one of those emergencies Mr. Moe closed,鈥� he said, adding the NDP have committed to keeping every one of those ERs open.
鈥淲e've committed $10 million dedicated added funds for rural health care and we're going to work with the colleges, the faculties of medicine, nursing, etc. on a recruitment and retention plan,鈥� Meili said.
鈥淥ne of the things I learned in practice was that the folks that are most likely to stay, are the folks who come from rural Saskatchewan and do their training in rural Saskatchewan. So, our recruitment really needs to focus on making sure we get people from the rural areas, into health professional professions, train them out in rural areas, so they're more likely to put down roots and stick around.鈥�
Asked why it seems some places, like Estevan, see few University of Saskatchewan-trained doctors, Meili responded that some places like Swift Current have been more successful in retaining Saskatchewan-trained doctors. 鈥淥ne of the reasons is they have a medicine residency training program,鈥� he said. Meili would like to see more distributive learning 鈥淪o people from rural areas are seeing themselves in medicine and everyone training in medicine in Saskatchewan is getting exposed to what it鈥檚 like to practice in rural areas. That's how you get comfortable working in smaller communities.鈥�
Rural connectivity
With internet access still painfully slow in for substantial portions of rural Saskatchewan, amplified by the need of children to do school work from home during the pandemic, how would they improve rural connectivity? Meili responded, 鈥淭he COVID-19 pandemic certainly exposed both the family needs and the needs of students doing things online, but also, so many business things are happening online.鈥�
He noted precision agriculture and marketing need that connectivity, saying, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e in business now, you鈥檙e online. And rural Saskatchewan is all about agricultural business."
鈥淚t's extremely important for quality of life in rural Saskatchewan and to business success. And that's why we're committed to working with SaskTel, to make sure that wherever you are in Saskatchewan, you鈥檙e able to access high-quality broadband internet,鈥� Meili said.
Improving rural environment and water quality
Regarding the rural environment and water quality, Meili said, 鈥淲e really haven't had a government that鈥檚 interested with water security and water safety. It's extremely important, when you think about drinking water, access for livestock, irrigation et cetera, it's extremely important. And we will work with local communities to develop a water safety strategy to help conserve water.
鈥淭hat's one piece of it. We think climate change is important. And we're going to be making major efforts through Renew Saskatchewan this discussion on the transition to renewable energy and continue to shift our approach.鈥�
Meili said the NDP would provide more clear and accurate guidelines are to ensure that the safety and precautions are taken by across the province.
With respect to algae blooms, Meili said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e putting fertilizer into lakes, which makes plants grow. It鈥檚 pretty straightforward. Now we need to be looking at how we have a runoff strategy as part of our regulations and drainage and our overall water security 鈥� these bodies of water are crucial to our communities.鈥�
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