Moe and company running hard for solutions

Those of you now seeing a lot more of Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe may have noticed you are now seeing slightly less of him.

His weight loss has been the result of getting up early and running three to five miles a day — sometimes around Wascana Lake in Regina, but usually on a treadmill at a fitness facility — prior to coming to work, those close to him say.

But like most of us, Moe has had to forego old daily routine because of coronavirus outbreak. One of the new restrictions the Saskatchewan premier put in place is the closure of fitness centres, but Moe’s new daily routine is far more breathtaking than any morning jog.

Take last Friday when

Moe added to his growing list of restrictions by including heavy $2,000 fines for international travellers coming home and refusing to self-isolate. Moe also offered last Friday was what he called the second prong of his Saskatchewan Party government’s COVID -19 strategy — resources to help fill in gaps for those economically affected by what’s going on. For example, the Self-isolation Support Program will provide as much as $900 for two weeks for the self-employed forced to shut down due to the pandemic.

Moe’s third prong in his strategic plan — recovery — seems far away.

The measures immediately drew criticism from both ends of the spectrum — those who say Moe’s policies are crippling business and the economy and those who say social restrictions are too late and not as strict as what’s being now imposed in places like Germany. Add to this criticism — perhaps legitimate — that the province is wrong to overrule municipal measures by Gravelbourg or the City of Regina.

Sadly, there are legitimate arguments for both positions. However, what isn’t correct is the notion that policy is now being made flippantly or that Moe et. al aren’t working hard to get it right.

Moe has encountered a hurricane that has blown us into uncharted waters. It does seem evident that Moe’s government — preoccupied by notions of an early election call and presenting a balanced budget on March 18 — did ignore the signs for rapids ahead. What’s now being done may still not be enough.

But what does seem unfair in this rapidly changing world is the notion that

Moe and his government still aren’t taking the issue seriously, ignoring the best advice available or not working hard enough.

It’s rather evident in his days where comparatively easy fitness runs have been replaced by marathon briefing and planning sessions aimed at getting enough information, quickly processing it to make policy decisions, strategizing so that it can presented in a way to minimize negative effect and then presenting it in the pressure cooker of live afternoon press conferences. “It’s pretty much an everyday thing,” one staffer explained.

Take last Friday where Moe was in the office before 7 a.m. for daily cabinet sessions (mostly, by teleconference) and daily briefings with now-also-familiar-to-you Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saquib Shahab (who the premier’s office staff rightly describe as the busiest man in the province). Such daily sessions are lasting an hour to three hours — depending on availability and needs that day.

What these meetings do is tap into the best knowledge base available, which includes Shahab’s daily nationwide chief medical officers’ conference call that seems to be putting provinces on the same page and producing more consistency and a more unified message on closures and social distancing and even declared states of emergency.

There is no limit to the minutiae and it does apply differently from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but that driving force to keep Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 infection rates — now slightly higher than the Canadian average — is to have that consistent strategy to deal with a virus that knows no borders and has largely been transmitted through travellers.

And getting the policy right for this jurisdiction and then communicating it effectively is now a daily fight.

This is not to suggest government gets a free pass from criticism or that it shouldn’t be doing more. Adding Opposition Leader Ryan Meili would certainly be wise.

But criticism should be fair and it’s unfair to suggest government isn’t working toward solutions.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-post and Saskatoon Starphoenix.