Scott Moe, you’re smarter than this. At least, you should be.
Those who depend on rural emergency rooms are alarmed to see them close just as COVID-19 case numbers flatten in most of Saskatchewan.
Six rural emergency rooms had already been temporarily shuttered by Friday. Six more are following, including at the Arcola Health Centre, which is closing down emergency care on Thursday.
Judy Naylen depends on that care. She has “flare ups” of asthma that periodically force her to drive 10 minutes to the Arcola Health Centre in southeast Saskatchewan. The other options are bad. She said it would take 25 minutes for paramedics to get to her farm, and at least 40 minutes to drive to the nearest hospital in Estevan or Redvers.
“My throat swells, ” she said, “and there’s a good possibility that I wouldn’t make it there.”
Naylen said she’s “shocked” to learn the Saskatchewan Health Authority is moving forward with plans to temporarily close emergency services in Arcola when there are zero COVID-19 cases across the southern region.
That’s right. 
Zero.
I guess he doesn’t want to win the election this fall.
LOL who you going to vote in, the NDP? Is there an alternative? Sure, go back to the party that wants to leave the oil in the ground and the wealth in the unions pockets.
Don’t be so sure of that. There were plans to hold a snap election in April due to a vote splitting threat from Wexit Sask. That was vetoed by Covid, but if Moe blows this he may have a problem on his hands.
Kate, you beat me to it. If there’s an option to vote Wexit this fall, I may very well do it.(we live 20 mins from Arcola)
I would like to see that, really I would. But the problem is that if there were enough lefties to keep electing NDP all those years, and splitting the vote between Sask Party and Wexit happens, you let the NDP slither up the middle.
If the provincial NDP is the problem, they are still your problem even if you separate.
Convenient stuff that covid.
If Moe can’t handle it, there is always Larry or Curly Joe
Is this an attempt to kill off the last of the rural conservatives?
Do we know that this is Moe approved, or is this an embedded dipper somewhere in the hierarchy with union support pushing this?
Scott Livingstone seems to be the driver, I don’t know his background – is he a dipper in disguise, or does he actually believe this is a good idea for the sask party.
Regardless, with the rise of the wexit party, the “rona” economy, this would be a truly stupid thing to carry forward to the fall election.
If this is Moe approved then he deserves the boot, even if it means the NDP pain. When, oh when, will the right ever learn to elect true conservatives??
77, elect true or real conservatives, never anywhere in Canada because there is no such animal.
Not much of a pandemic if it ain’t out there. Sask. has had fewer cases than the seasonal flu, why the panic? While I don’t live in Sask. much like Judy Naylen I have allergies that required hospitalization and would likely have died if not for reasonably close access to care. Sask. is sounding like Cape Breton on the east coast. They had seven hospitals at one time and are now down to one. While the area is not as large, the problems are.
I’m an idiot but if nursing homes comprise the majority of covid deaths and nursing home staff are strangely impervious to the virus, why do they treat covid patients in hospitals?
Keep hospitals open and set up virus treatment facilities 2km away ffs. Give me my damn (pathetic) charter rights back you tyrannical pricks (aka, my moral arbiters)
I expect Gormley will tear them a new a hole this morning on radio this is a ridiculous scenario shutting down rural emergency centres just in case there is an emergency ?WAKE UP Sask Party
How many people have to access this care facility in a critical way? If a full hospital is 40 minutes away then it is likely the better option. I guess what I am asking is whether there is enough business to warrant the cost? Perhaps the lady in question has to move closer to care. It could mean a major change in lifestyle which is a hard reality.
The story is more than superficial. At some point many services provided by government will have to have a serious cost/benefit review. People seem to think that the debt being wracked up doesn’t mean anything. Here in BC Scott Moe seems pretty down to earth and realistic.
It’s one of the busiest emergency rooms for STARS flights in the region, as it’s one of the few where the helicopter can land on the hospital property.
They should clear some forests in south Sask for more helicopter landing strips. Heh.
I still have to ask how much is it used? Is that landing pad just so that STARS can land and take patients off to a bigger centre? I admit its been over thirty years since I lived in Saskatchewan but at the time I lived there every little town, no matter how small had a hospital and an ER. They mostly provided welfare work for farmers wives with nursing degrees and some local employment. It also required a local board who got some money for that job. The ERs were often empty for days at a time and as far as emergencies, anything more complicated than a deep splinter got transferred to Regina. Most of them didn’t have an on call doctor. So you drove to your local hospital you had to wait for the doctor to arrive which typically takes about twenty to forty minutes depending on where the doctor is and then you are either told to head to a bigger centre under your own steam, or an ambulance is called to transfer you. Is that why STARS are called so often? So in the end you spent a lot longer getting to care. The vast majority of the locals knew this and simply bypassed the local hospital and went straight to the nearest bigger hospital. Yet if the government made any effort to close a hospital everyone was suddenly up in arms protesting and many sob stories about the two people who actually used the hospital and the staff laid off were suddenly headlines. How dare you close our local hospital even if I never use it!!! The Leader Post was always a big big booster of Ralph (Mr. Get Their Guns) Goodale. Has any of that actually changed?
A lot of things that start for one reason will continue for other reasons. In this case the hospital emergency service closures started because of covid but will continue because it saves the government money. I also think that’s why schools are remaining closed. Health and education are big cost areas for provincial governments.
All of these pandemic spending splurges and business lockdowns are and will continue to be extremely expensive for all levels of government. Expect more healthcare cuts, service reductions, tax hikes, higher utility prices and fee increases from governments. I think both the gst and pst will be going up, maybe dramatically.
For the record, I think that the political response to covid, lockdowns and uncontrolled spending, will be seen as the biggest policy error of the 21st century. Fear and panic create poor decision making.
Not big on NWO theories. I have no doubt megalomaniacs exist and that some of dream of “benevolent” worldwide tyranny but the kind of competence, secrecy and alignment between many parties that would be involved makes it impossible. Narcissist megalomaniacs don’t work well together. People can’t keep secrets very well
My metaphor is a Buffalo Jump theory. People and governments (with the aid of academics,journalists, social media) can be herded, panicked and then stampeded over cliffs to their deaths. Then the a-holes who created the fear and panic harvest the bounty at the bottom of the cliff and live like kings.
Not a socialist but I’d like to see a big tax on those who made huge profits on the pandemic stock market fluctuations. I don’t believe the big winners were just lucky or talented.
I suggest you do some reading on the green new deal as it is forming the basis of the corona recovery strategy everywhere in the west. Such concepts like all the strings that are attached to the loans being offered by turdo. Sure here is some money to help you through, but you must agree to implement all these radical green ideas and cede equity in your company to us if you don’t. Have a nice day.
This isn’t NWO theory, it is current gov’t process and it’s happening now. People better wake up fast.
No single family homes (limit is 25 sqm pp)
No ICE cars
No Air Travel
No Meat (or very, very limited)
No Warm Houses
Carbon tracing on absolutely everything you do
READ: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
Google canada’s version and read it fully. Let it sink in.
I have a personal rule : Don’t get into debates with people who are raging angry, who are terrified with fear, who are drunk/high or conspiracy theorists of any political persuasion.
I’ve read most NWO theories to understand what others are talking about but I remain unconvinced because there are better explanations. Most of those explanations center on greed. The vehicle used by those with insatiable greed to enrich themselves and impoverish others changes based on social fads but the goal remains consistent. The predators engaging in such behavior should understand history to see where this leads. Don’t think they’ll like the result.
How does “Not big on NWO theories.” not conflict with this: “Then the a-holes who created the fear and panic harvest the bounty at the bottom of the cliff and live like kings.” That is truly conspiracy minded.
“People can’t keep secrets very well ”
Open gov’t publications that clearly state what the policies aren’t really a secret or conspiracy are they? It tells you what is happening, why wouldn’t you want to know?
Look, you can read and understand it or not. The choice is yours. I am not writing this to convince you specifically. Rather to point out to others who are more inclined to be informed about actual events.
LC Bennet: EXACTLY!! You couldn’t have said it any better! FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!
Those two situations (Covid/markets vs NWO) diverge on scale and probability.
Stock market manipulation and creating a fear based panic are not unusual in history. Both scale and probability are doable.
The scale of NWO plans would be massive by comparison which decreases probability. Implausible if not impossible.
I just see more plausible explanations. I definitely sense something rotten going on though.
LC, far more expensive for the people who lost their jobs. When the tax base disappears provincial governments have no money because they do not have the power of the press to create money. Look for cuts to everything. That of course would mean less government and that would be a good thing. We are all going to pay for the screwing we got.
This is be a test for Saskabushers. Let’s see if they do better than Ontario’s electorate which sat (and still sits) passively by for a couple of decades while the province’s health care system worsened. They voted for windmills, solar panels, and subsidies for millionaires instead of MRIs and hospital space for aging boomers.
I am older than the average aging Boomer and I considered moving back home to Northern Ontario, but the medical services are so poor and getting a doctor is so impossible that I decided to stay in the west where things always seem to be better. How long will I be able to say that.
people think they vote conservative, butt git CUCKservative, and will never learn! Comunism is and always has been strong in the west, and it is religious driven, as Saskabush brought us tommy the commy health care!!
Hospital Facility Manager here…
My guess is Moe has got some very bad advice. All ER’s across the country are open. We have multiple processes and policies in place to stop cross contamination between in-patients and the ER. Even the most strident Infection Control Practitioner would not suggest this. This has idiot bureaucrat written all over it, it makes no sense whatsover on any level, patient safety or otherwise.
Joe: If they don’t have a doctor to staff at the Emergency then they close them and send people to nearest Emerg where there is a doctor. Someone needs to check to see if this is the problem NO DOCTOR at the hospital for emergencies. If the hospital has a doctor in emerg. go never mind what they tell…you just go!!
I’ve lived almost all my life in small towns in Alberta. Small town hospitals don’t exactly staff emergency rooms. They call everyone in as needed. Why does Moe want to elect the filthy commies?
Great thread.
I especially like the mini thread with Rusty Shackleford & L C Bennett.
Don’t bother looking for it, deleted for off topic.
I like Scott Moe, he seems very genuine, the antithesis of Justin Trudeau. Unfortunately I think he’s in over his head with this Covid-19, you can see it in his eyes during his press conferences. If he was braver he would use his common sense and chart his own course and not rely on bad models and advice from the WHO and Dr. Tam.
I can appreciate that with an election approaching he doesn’t want to make any decisions that the NDP will try and bury him on. The problem with that is he’s looking a lot like the leader who can’t or won’t take Saskatchewan and the West into the showdown with Ottawa once we’re passed this crisis. The people of Saskatchewan want a strong leader who can stand up to the politicians in Ottawa. The wexit voters haven’t disappeared and when the smoke settles and the damage becomes evident they will rise up stronger and louder and Mr Moe needs to show he’s a brave leader that can lead us to the future we demand and want out here in the West.
HVB, well said. I believe the same is true in AB also. Kenney was elected to take on Ottawa and right now he doesn’t even look like he is in charge. It looks far more like he passed the premiership to the province’s chief medical officer and it is unknown when he will take his job back. Albertans, like those from SK, don’t take well to the unreasonable and overreaching demands that we are currently seeing from our moral betters and as such, when the smoke clears the wexit movement will be very strong in AB too for the same reasons you mention.
And yet the CMO in Alberta totally screwed over the workers and families at Cargill and JSB by ignoring working conditions, forcing them to work in unsafe situations and causing over half of Cargill employees to get COVID including 2 deaths. Over half of all meat inspectors came down with Covid. Infected meat leaving the plant going to consumers. Is it safe? God knows who to believe. The City of Brooks Alberta had over 1000 infections out of a total population of 14,000 people. This neglect delayed the reopening of Alberta’s economy and cost Billions in economic losses. It totally backed up the food supply chain. She needs to apologize and or resign. They had ample warning to put in place preventative measures based on meat plant infections south of the border weeks before. They didn’t.
I think most senior bureaucrats have extremely excessive PC filters (resulting from era now ending)
Additionally most are too deferential to the dogmas of their guild.
Same imbalances plague most academics & most media & most politicians.
So workers carpooling 5 -6 to a car to work from HR and Calgary, living double digits to a house, significant others employed in the health and long term care facilities, workers not adhering to social distancing, hand washing and cleanliness in common areas(washrooms, meal rooms, parking lots) at Cargill had NOTHING to do with the workers contracting the CCP virus?
I know a guy who works at the plant(not on the kill floor or processing) who said mid March that it was only a matter of time before the CCP Virus started showing up because of the above factors.
But NO its all Cargill fault according to the Union and the media.
To suggest otherwise would be rassis.
Every business has had to address how employees interact. Crowded work camps, packed company bus shuttles, cafeteria services etc. Cargill is no different. Yet the # of incidents at say crowded oilsands camps has been minimal because these companies were proactive, thought ahead and implemented good plans. Lots of immigrant workers. aboriginal workers, people from all walks of life in crowded conditions at these sites just like Cargill. Cargill and the CMO dropped the ball. Cargill knew better and needed to do a better job looking after its employees, its customers and its important vendor base that being cattle ranchers and feedlots. Cargill needs to be prosecuted. The CMO needs to apologize and/or resign.
All you do Mr Kenney is BLOVIATE….YOU have done S F A For Alberta but give yourselves a raise and talk louder than most. No major reduction in Civil Service – No major Pay cuts for Civil Service. Zero Movement on the Alberta Firewall.
And now with no oil coin a coming….?? whatcha ya gonna do JASON…???
Institute a PST of 15% on top of GST and then some other BS tax..??
When no one is working sonny boy – no one is buying SQUAT and as such No one will be paying your taxes. However, doing so just might get this populace so pissed off as to come for your very HIDE – DEMAND an election and we can all watch your UCP slide into OBLIVION as Alberta decides to go WEXIT and declares UDI.
God willing….
I am hoping that WEXIT buries Moe next election. Moe will become Alberta’s Jim Prentice with a split vote. Living in SK l have nothing good to say about Moe other that he is not ENPD. He is a worshiper of AGW; he has wasted billions on carbon capture and sequestration. He is weak. He has severely over reacted on this flu thing.
It will be interesting to see if the Indians, supported by Turdeau, get to do their group dance thing opposed by Moe. Since the RCMP report to Turdeau; I am betting that Moe looses again.
This is not stupidity run amok, it is the fruits of democracy in an inattentive/infantile population, good and hard.
It’s obvious that we’re in late-stage democracy now.
upvote.
[stay on topic or move to RT – ED]
I do not post much mostly lurk. Never liked the guy since his first speech at a luncheon I attended. “Don’t get me wrong, climate change is real” is the quote. Near spit my soup out, wrong crowd on the wrong day. I ate my 20 dollar samo grabbed my local MLA and give him a stern lecture about growing balls and all………….. tar and feathered was his response. Since then as with Kate I have wanted a new country. This new scenario of fear and flu has strengthened my resolve. It would not take much to change my Christmas turkey donation to the Sask Party to a Wexit membership. Prob as easy as a phone call. My have we fallen.
L-The Sask. gov’t. bureaucracy is deeply infiltrated by ideologically possessed left-overs. Those that reach any level of authority are quite capable of sabotage, either by intention or sheer ineptness. It’s the remaining population holding fast to our pioneer values/culture, that keeps our ship of state from keeling over.
Having worked in a Sask Crown Corp, I saw that grand ideas were often the work of a small group of government bureaucrats following fads or a single strong willed executive within the corporation. In both cases the powers that be were impervious to constructive criticism. The same personality traits that helped them rise through the ranks makes them unable to consider other perspectives, even from others with specific knowledge and direct field experience. Everyone around leaders or influential groups tend to be ass kissing bobble heads.
This COVID-19 is all about the money and power! Premiers of every Province need to get off their FAT A$$ES and get everyone back to work. This is nothing more than PM Trudeau’s way to control more of our lives. This CO-19 is nothing more THAN A FLU let us get back to work!!
turtle, I was watching CTV for a brief moment earlier with Ford et al putting forth their grand plan for re-opening Ontario. One dufus actually had the temerity to say things couldn’t be opened by just flipping a switch, the idiot forgot that things were closed by just flipping a switch. Yes it was is and continues to be all about people control. Stupid does not begin to describe all that is going on.
So part of the plans to close rural emergency rooms also includes creating field hospitals in Regina and Saskatoon they can’t be dumb enough to be following through with that. Or can they?
The excuse that these plans were announced weeks ago, so they should still go ahead is poor. This is a very fluid situation. So the exercise of planning is important, the plan itself is often worthless.
Moe does need to fix this. If the SHA doesn’t reverse course, the head of the SHA should lose his job because if the COVID situation actually reaches a crisis in Saskatchewan we clearly don’t have the ability to move quickly enough.
But hence is the problem with socialism in the first place the planners make the plans that must be stuck to even if the reality on the ground has changed.
Back in the early 90’s SK was on the verge of insolvency. They were basically broke and the then premier went cap in hand to Ottawa and begged a bailout, which he got.
Roy Romanow the ndp premier at the time rejigged rural hospitals and downsized. Hospitals became health centers and some closed permanently. He won re election in 1995.
The ndp always lurks just below the surface in SK. Voters are completely capable of turfing Moe. I think many (most?) governments will change as a result of their handling of the pandemic.