Government says it will reply next week to call for legislature to meet
SASKATOON The provincial Saskatchewan Party government says it will respond to a proposal from the Opposition New Democrats on reconvening the legislature next week.
The government replied on Friday to media inquiries about the setting of a deadline by the NDP to hear back on tabling a full budget and reopening the legislature in some format.
NDP Leader Ryan Meili said in an online news conference that he wants a response from the Saskatchewan Party government by Tuesday.
“It’s time for Saskatchewan people to have answers to their questions out in the open and not behind closed doors,” Meili told reporters.
Meili confirmed that NDP House Leader Cathy Sproule and government House Leader Jeremy Harrison met on Thursday to discuss a return of the legislature.
The NDP released a letter from Sproule to Harrison that called for a full budget and 28 days of assembly sessions, including question period. Sproule’s letter ends with a request for a reply by the end of the day on Tuesday.
“We’ll let you know,” Meili said when asked what he plans to do if the government does not respond by then. The government might not release a full budget before the Oct. 26 provincial election, Meili said.
The Opposition is willing to consider a mix of actual physical sittings of the assembly and virtual participation, he added.
“We will figure out the next way to put pressure on if they don’t figure out it’s time for Saskatchewan people to have some answers.”
Jim Billington, a spokesman for Premier Scott Moe, said in an email that Harrison will respond to Sproule next week, but did not set an exact date.
“However, we do not intend to politicize these productive discussions by negotiating in public,” Billington’s email said. The government favours “an amenable agreement on a modified schedule,” the email said.
Meili also suggested the government could permanently close rural hospitals where emergency services are being closed temporarily as part of the effort to prepare for a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Some rural leaders have reacted with shock to the closure of about a dozen emergency rooms when COVID -19 cases are falling in most parts of the province.
“I think they may be finding that the pandemic gives them an excuse to make lots of cuts and lots of closures and lots of sell-offs,” Meili said.
Billington said in an email that the closures are temporary and
called the NDP’S assertion of possible permanent closures “fearmongering.”
The provincial government did not hold a briefing on the pandemic on Friday and did not plan to resume live briefings until Tuesday, the day the second phase of the province’s reopening plan begins.
The province announced eight new cases on Friday, five in the La Loche area and three in the Beauval area where outbreaks have been previously identified. The number of reported cases in Saskatchewan climbed to 590.
Recoveries increased to 408 with 10 more announced Friday.
Nine people diagnosed with the virus remained in hospital, including three in intensive care units.
The far north region, where both La Loche and Beauval are located, continued to account for most active cases, 147 of 176. The north region followed with 18 and the Saskatoon region with nine. The central region and Regina region each had a single active case.
The 218 diagnosed cases in the far north represented about 37 per cent of the Saskatchewan total.
The Saskatchewan government also upgraded the part of its website where it tracks information on the COVID-19 pandemic. The updates include more categories and interactive graphs to track the spread and decline of the pandemic in the province and in the six regions.
The new features include a comparison of the current situation to 30 days earlier.
For example, cases rose from 304 on April 15, prior to the rise of cases in the far north. Active cases also ballooned in that period, to 176 from 95, and recoveries doubled to 408 from 205.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) announced Friday that the outbreak declared at the Meadow Lake Hospital was over.