In his comments in the March 10 edition of the Western Producer, NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter continues to ignore the facts and his own NDP track record in rural Saskatchewan.
Lingenfelter is quick to forget that his former NDP government closed 52 rural hospitals and hundreds of long-term care beds across the province. Under the previous NDP government, Saskatchewan had the longest surgical waiting lists in the country.
We have increased the number of doctors and nurses working in Saskatchewan, committed funding for 13 new long-term care centres, created the Physician Recruitment Agency, increased training seats for medical students, increased provincial funding for regional health projects and improved emergency medical services in rural Saskatchewan.
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The previous NDP government cut funding to (rural municipalities) and offloaded costs to rural ratepayers. Our government, on the other hand, is providing record funding to municipalities through an historic revenue sharing formula. In addition, we implemented the largest education property tax reduction in our province’s history, an issue the previous NDP government refused to address.
Our government is also providing significant funding for municipal infrastructure projects in rural Saskatchewan and record funding for roads, highways and bridges to make up for the massive infrastructure deficit left behind by the former NDP government.
In addition, we recently announced $22 million to help communities, RMs and individuals prepare for potential flooding this spring.
Lingenfelter also fails to mention his own NDP record on agriculture, which includes cutting programs such as GRIP, gutting Crop Insurance, twice cancelling Spot Loss Hail, closing rural agriculture offices, and refusing to fully fund programs.
Last July, our government, in partnership with the federal government, introduced the Excess Moisture Program (EMP), the largest one-time provincial agricultural disaster response in Saskatchewan’s history. Over $700 million of support has been provided to Saskatchewan producers through Crop Insurance and EMP claims from 2010.
More recently, our government introduced the second largest agriculture budget in the province’s history, which includes record crop insurance funding and insurance coverage levels, an enhanced unseeded acreage benefit, expanded extension services, and an increased investment in agriculture research.
After being ignored for 16 years by the previous NDP government, our government is working hard to address the needs of farmers, ranchers and families in rural Saskatchewan.
Bob Bjornerud,
Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture, Regina, Sask.
