SaskParty Caucus

AGRICULTURE AND HEALTH CARE PRIORITIES FOR SASKATCHEWAN PARTY GOVERNMENT

Our government has its roots in rural Saskatchewan. We understand agriculture is the backbone of our communities, which is why are we are taking historic measures in response to the unprecedented flooding producers have experienced this spring and summer. We recently partnered with the federal government to introduce a $360-million Excess Moisture Program (EMP) to help Saskatchewan farmers manage flooded crop land. The EMP, the largest one-time provincial agricultural disaster response in Saskatchewan’s history, provides $30 per eligible acre for both unseeded crop land as of June 20thand seeded crop land flooded out on or before July 31st. In addition to this support, Crop Insurance customers are eligible for an unseeded acreage benefit of up to $50 per eligible acre, and also have coverage for seeded land that has been flooded out.

The rainy weather hasn’t deterred Saskatchewan families from going camping. When you get to the park, you will notice some significant improvements. Our government has added more than a thousand electrified campsites. We are also upgrading or replacing some service centres, boat launches, potable water systems, picnic tables and barbeques.

When you’re outside this summer, remember to protect yourself from mosquitoes. We are now officially in West Nile season. Take simple precautions such as wearing bug spray, covering up, avoiding the outdoors between dusk and dawn, and emptying areas and containers that collect water.

Your family’s health is a priority for our government. This summer, we are continuing our ongoing physician retention and recruitment efforts in rural Saskatchewan. We recently announced the creation of four new medical residency training positions in Swift Current. This is the latest step in a plan to expand medical education beyond Saskatoon and into rural Saskatchewan. Training these new doctors in rural areas will hopefully encourage them to work and live in rural Saskatchewan after graduation. We are also providing approximately $450,000 in short-term funding to help medical residents with their student loans. The funding brings our government one step closer towards achieving our goal of increasing the number of medical school graduates who establish a practice in Saskatchewan. Plus, physician recruitment is pivotal as our government works to decrease surgical wait times to no more than three months.

SASKPARTY GOVERNMENT INVESTING IN HIGHWAYS AND PARKS

A recent union advertising campaign suggests our government has an agenda to privatize highway maintenance and provincial parks.

This is wrong.

Under the NDP, Saskatchewan’s highways were deteriorating. Under our government, they are in the best condition they have been in decades. The last three years of NDP government saw approximately 3947 kilometres of roadwork completed. In our first three years in government, we announced 5281 kilometres of roadwork. We achieved this by working with the same skilled highway workers, contractors and engineers we have in past. The only thing that’s changed is we have a government committed to providing Saskatchewan people with safe, modern highways.

Your Saskatchewan Party government is committed to publically-owned provincial parks. We funded the creation of approximately 600 additional electrified campsites. Plus, in our first three budgets, we committed more than $74 million to parks in Saskatchewan, which means campground renewal and development, new service centers and new picnic tables and barbeques.

ROD GANTEFOER WILL NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION IN 2011

Finance Minister and Melfort MLA Rod Gantefoer announces that he will not be running again in the 2011 provincial election.

Gantefoer was first elected in 1995 and was a founding member of the Saskatchewan Party in 1997. He was re-elected as a Saskatchewan Party MLA in 1999, 2003 and 2007 and has served as the province’s Finance Minister since the election of the Saskatchewan Party government.

“It has been a tremendous experience serving the people of the Melfort constituency and all the people of Saskatchewan over my four terms as MLA, but the time is right for me to move on to something else,” Gantefoer said. “I plan to work for a few more years after I leave politics. So if I sought one more term, that would take me to 2015, and that might be a little past the point when I would be wanting to start a new career.”
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