Education, healthcare, and programs being eyed by SUMA following provincial throne speech – DiscoverEstevan.com

With the province making its priorities known for the upcoming terms, organizations like SUMA are looking to get their own opinions on how the government should be growing.

During their throne speech, the province focused on healthcare, education, and affordability to help people in Saskatchewan.

Jean-Marc Nadeau, CEO of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, talks about their reaction to the government’s proclamation.

“We are relatively pleased with the approach the government has laid out in the throne speech. We’re obviously looking forward to the budget. So that’s really where the numbers come down. But commitments to doubling the (Community Rink Affordability Grant) is good. The additional addiction beds that are being proposed, we’re really pleased with that. We’re seeing additional help with our municipality that way and the commitment to the municipal revenue sharing is another one that is good for us.”

“We are one of two provinces in the country that have this type of program and we’re very pleased to have a commitment from the province to maintain it moving forward. So far, good news. I think there’s some additional work to be done around (Saskatchewan Income Support) and (Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability), but we are awaiting a meeting with Minister Cockrill and we’re looking forward to having those conversations.”

With more specific terms coming out over the next couple of weeks from the province, Nadeau says SUMA is also keeping an eye out for safety policy.

“They’ve announced 500 new police officers on the ground in Saskatchewan. We’re looking forward to seeing what that’s going to look like from a more granular standpoint, the rollout. Will they be all RCMP members? Will they be a combination of municipal police services? There’s still the outstanding issue of the Marshall Service, we’re not quite sure what that’s going to look like. We’re certainly – anxious is not the right word. I think it’s more of, let’s see what it’s going to all shake out to be. But you know, more police officers on the ground is a good thing.”

With the next four years of government figured out, SUMA will be keeping a close eye to make sure the municipality’s needs are met.

“We’re looking to seeing them continue working with our municipalities, with us as representative of the urban municipalities. As I mentioned earlier, we’re still concerned with some of the program requirements around SIS, the Saskatchewan Income Support program that was changed in 2019. That needs to really be looked at again.”

“We’re feeling that our information from the members and from the CEOs that we talked to the community-based organization that there’s significant issues still with SIS, the fact that the SIS program does not pay rent directly to the landlords, but expects the individuals to do that on their own. It’s problematic and those individuals unfortunately end up being refused rent because of past history, so certainly a challenge that we’re hoping that we can resolve for the citizen, but also for our municipalities who bear the brunt of a lot of the homelessness issues in the province.”