Opposition party leader Ryan Meili and the Saskatchewan NDP released their post-COVID recovery plan on June 11, calling for a focus on funding services to serve the people as well as the economy as Saskatchewan recovers.
A People-First Recovery outlines three areas the NDP feels should be the focus on governmental attention as the province moves forward — investments in people and people-focused services, local economy-focused recovery initiatives, and future-forward funding to promote innovation.
“We’ve been through a lot in the last few months. We’ve shown what Saskatchewan people are made of when we fight the COVID crisis together,” said Meili, in a press release. “Now it’s time for the government to step up with a full recovery plan. The focus has to be on investing in people, because the Sask. Party’s tired old playbook of cuts will only hurt people and slow our recovery.”
The recovery plan will seek to address social needs by investing in long-term senior care and health care services, increasing childcare availability, and seeking a restructuring of social assistance programs to eliminate claw-backs.
Meili has also been very vocal about the importance of addressing overcrowding in classrooms and is promising to enforce a limit of 24 students in a classroom, to better education equality for children.
“Parents, teachers and childcare providers were struggling to care for kids without support or the guidance they need from the province, and our healthcare system was struggling to keep up after years of underfunding. The pandemic has exposed those gaps, and now is the time to address them,” said Meili.
The NDP plan will also focus on bolstering the Saskatchewan economy with the Saskatchewan First Procurement plan, which will encourage the use of locally-owned businesses for project tenders first, and create a marketing plan to promote buying local from small businesses.
The NDP is also promising to encourage the use of clean energy, including programs to help retrofit buildings, and make the push to replace coal energy with wind and solar energy by 2030.
“It’s time to rebuild and renew — to make the lives of Saskatchewan people a little easier and a lot better,” said Meili. “For a brighter future in Saskatchewan, we need to invest in people.”
For the full details of the Sask NDP’s A People-First Recovery plan, visit their website or view the plan here.
