The Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce touched on several important topics during its Oct. 15 provincial election forum, from health care and safe injection sites to economic development and tourism.
Roughly 60 residents attended the event at the Golden Nugget Centre, where they heard from Sask. Party candidates Tim McLeod and Megan Patterson and NDP candidates Cheantelle Fisher and Melissa Patterson.
Tourism
The chamber said that tourism is a $90-million industry in Moose Jaw, so it wanted to know how the parties would support that sector’s continued growth.
Small businesses play a pivotal role in the success of Moose Jaw’s and Saskatchewan’s economies, while the community has a proud tourism sector that needs a vibrant and welcoming — and safe and clean — downtown to continue thriving, said McLeod.
Therefore, he continued, the Sask. Party would support more police officers, implement a province-wide marshals’ service, invest in mental health and addiction services, double the number of treatment spaces, help people acquire a bed and support their transition to a recovery-oriented system of care.
“(That) allows the addiction treatment provider to wrap supports around that individual, making sure we’re treating them in a holistic way,” McLeod added. “Not just addressing the addiction, but making sure we are finding the underlying source of the addiction and treating that … .”
Fisher agreed that tourism was the backbone of Moose Jaw’s economy and that having a vibrant downtown core was important. However, she said the province’s mental health and addiction programs were failing impoverished residents, especially people living downtown, in Crescent Park and on businesses’ doorsteps.
Those are loved “human people” who need care and support, just like the business community requires support, she continued. So, it is important to work with the downtown and mental health and addiction providers to maintain a vibrant core where everyone felt safe, loved and supported.
Besides Moose Jaw, the government is helping grow the tourism industry province-wide, as shown by the 11 million people who visited last year, said the Sask. Party’s Patterson. So, the Sask. Party would continue working with the tourism industry here and provincially.
The NDP’s Patterson said her party would “build an economy for the future” by introducing an economic growth incentive program and providing tax credits and PST rebates on construction costs, which should enable businesses to invest in the downtown.
“There’s no doubt that Moose Jaw has plenty to offer,” she added.
Safe injection sites
A question from the floor asked whether the parties would set up a safe injection site in Moose Jaw.
Fisher said the NDP is committed to health care, mental health, and addiction services and would dedicate $1.1 billion over four years to those areas to create a “strong, vibrant health-care system.”
The Sask. Party’s Patterson pointed to the party’s recovery-oriented system of care program as a way the province can support addicts.
“We don’t believe that there’s any such thing as safe supply … of an illicit drug,” she added.
The NDP’s Patterson said she has heard heartbreaking stories of people struggling with addiction and mental illness, while the government’s supports have been “inadequate.” She noted that, under the Sask. Party, homelessness and poverty are increasing everywhere.
“Saskatchewan is a rich province, and it doesn’t have to be this way,” she continued.
The NDP would connect government ministries with community partners to fill empty housing units, expand social supports and improve access to health care and economic opportunities, which should reduce crime and addiction, Patterson said. The party would also eliminate the marshals’ service and redirect that money to front-line positions.
McLeod said that the NDP candidates didn’t say whether they favoured safe injection sites, while the Sask. Party is clear that it opposes such venues since there is nothing safe about injecting drugs. Moreover, giving people drugs only makes the problem worse, as seen in British Columbia.
“We will meet people where they’re at, but we will not leave them there. We need to help people battling addiction get up and find the path to recovery … so they can lead safe, healthy lives,” he added.
All four candidates also said they would work with city council and city administration to address addiction issues.
Housing
The chamber asked candidates how their parties would address Moose Jaw’s housing crisis, which is particularly affecting the homeless, students and immigrant workers.
The two NDP candidates said there are roughly 4,000 provincially owned housing units sitting empty, while rents continue to increase. So, the party would implement rent protection, while it would open those empty units in the first term, including 500 within the first year.
The NDP would also eliminate changes to the Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) program so landlords once again receive direct payment for rent and utilities.
McLeod said those vacant housing units are empty because many are uninhabitable and require substantial renovations, while the NDP has not said how it would pay for those renovations.
Conversely, he noted that the Sask. Party has a fully costed — and “fiscally responsible” — plan to pay for initiatives such as a secondary suite incentive program, PST rebates on new-home construction, a first-time homebuyers’ tax credit and a home renovation tax credit.
The Sask. Party’s Patterson noted that the primary reason people struggle with rent and cost of living is the federal government’s carbon tax.
Health care
The chamber asked how the parties would attract and retain doctors and other health-care professionals to support a growing Saskatchewan .
The NDP’s Patterson said her party would invest in community health advisory networks, create an online list of family doctors accepting new patients, hire more physicians and improve access to primary care and nurse practitioners. In Moose Jaw, the NDP would keep the hospital’s hyperbaric chamber fully operational.
McLeod said the Sask. Party had invested a record $7.6 billion in health care this year, which was only possible because of a strong economy. It would continue to recruit more doctors and nurses through its hiring action plan, add more training seats and incentivize workers to take hard-to-fill positions.
Said Fisher, “After 17 years, the Sask. Party has failed us when it comes to health care. And when we talk record investments, if I pay you $0 for 10 years, and on the 11th year I give you $1, I have made a record investment in your income.”
She pointed out that a leaked health-care memo showed that the Sask. Party’s cuts have made the system “unreliable.” In comparison, the NDP would hire more doctors, nurses, paramedics and other professionals for front-line and bedside work.
The Sask. Party’s Patterson said the province invested that record amount because of a strong economy, while — contrary to the NDP’s take — it is not an either-or situation but a both-and with health and economics. She also pointed out that it’s the private sector that generates the tax revenues, which the government uses to invest in public services.
“So you can’t have one without the other,” she added.
Economic development
A critical issue for the chamber is economic development, so it asked the candidates how their parties would create a favourable environment that attracted investment.
The Sask. Party candidates said their party has created a sound economic environment during the past 17 years that has welcomed investors, compared to past NDP governments’ actions that drove away investment.
The candidates said their party would keep the small business tax rate at one per cent and create policies that don’t invite crime or addiction to businesses’ doorsteps. It would also continue its private sector investment attraction strategy and work with local chambers to deliver tax credits to small- and medium-sized enterprise and annual grants to young entrepreneurs.
The NDP candidates said their party would “get Saskatchewan out of last place” with its economy and attempt to replace the jobs that the Sask. Party had lost over the years, including adding more full-time, better-paying positions so people could save for the future and not have to use food banks.
The candidates said their party would implement a Hire Saskatchewan plan that prioritizes local people and companies, increase funding for training programs, freeze the small business tax rate at one per cent for its entire first term, offer start-up loans to business for retrofits, offer PST rebates on retrofits and establish a business roundtable to address labour force challenges.
Other topics the candidates discussed included the SIS and SAID support programs, the property tax assessment program, student loans, the gas tax, spending priorities and how candidates could make residents happy.
The provincial election is on Monday, Oct. 28.
