Funding cut to health groups is ‘indecent’: NDP leader

Health-based community organizations in the province are bracing for a 10 per cent cut in funding from Saskatchewan’s government.

Health Minister Jim Reiter said the discussions are “very preliminary,” but the province is “looking at a 10 per cent reduction in community-based funding overall.”

Organizations that provide child and youth services, addiction services, chronic disease programming or mental-health services could be affected.

Core services — doctors, nurses and hospitals — will be protected, according to Reiter, while some organizations will see funding “eliminated entirely” or not cut “at all.”

Reiter says the province won’t be picking winners and losers when deciding which organizations lose money.

Rather, he said the province will look at “which organizations are providing what we think are necessary services to core services in health.”

Asked about specific programs — such as needle exchanges or preventive-measure programming — Reiter said “all those sort of questions are very preliminary.”

The province, according to Reiter, is “going to be very careful” in making sure funding cuts don’t create further strains on core services.

Funding for the communitybased organizations at risk of losing money typically flows through health regions: the province designates money for health regions and health regions choose how to spend that money.

Health regions, which are being eliminated by the province, have to submit their budgets by the end of June.

Reiter says the province will take about a month to review those budgets and start making decisions over cuts based on those deliberations.

He said depending on the situation, some organizations may have a phased funding cut, but overall organizations won’t know until “before summer.”

That means many organizations will have to live in the unknown for several months.

Reiter said he respects that concern and it is why the province wants to avoid any “unnecessary delays” in its decision making.

Over the last year, total healthrelated community organization funding from the province totalled $15.7 million.

Interim NDP leader Trent Wotherspoon said the province has no clue what is happening and the government isn’t being straight with community-based organizations, who “deserve to know what’s happening.” The cut will be a “dramatic hit,” services will be impacted and the decision is “indecent,” said Wotherspoon.