Sask. Party backers need to open minds

Never has the conservative and narrow social thinking of Saskatchewan Party supporters as a group been more apparent than in their combined response to a poll on the provincial government's handling of the opioid crisis.

I've long yearned for a provincial government in a Saskatchewan that gets it … that addicted people are sick people first, and that the other labels such as “criminal” and “poor” and “Indian” would go away. And I've waited, and waited.

Poll results published in Wednesday's edition identify why the delay — and the stark chasm between voters for the two major provincial political parties. Fully 90 per cent of the voters who backed the NDP in the last provincial election said they support safe drug consumption sites, while only 31 per cent of respondents who voted for the Saskatchewan Party expressed support for them.

Not coincidentally, there is no sign that a safe drug injection site will be funded by the Saskatchewan Party in the foreseeable future.

Pick a subject and they cater to their supporters rather than moving forward for the full populace of the province they represent. They are a conservative party, elected by conservative people.

I can hardly wait until they catch up with the times and we see progressive provincial government policies addressing the opioid crisis, the larger issue of substance abuse, and other files in general. Gord Brock, Regina