Surgical wait list addressed in budget, but some organizations expected more

Saskatchewan’s government is vowing it won’t wait to address the province’s surgical wait list.

In the 2022-23 budget released Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Party put an increase of $21.6 million toward addressing the surgical wait list that built up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goal is to have the list whittled down to pre-pandemic levels by March of 2025.

“We found out in the last couple of years that things are unpredictable, so we think we could do this in about 36 months,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said when asked why that year was selected as the target.

“That’s what our officials are telling us with the added surgical capacity that we’re doing, but not just in the major centres. We’re also going to look at rural Saskatchewan and we’re going to set up some surgical theatres out there as well and utilize that because we want to make sure that all areas of our health-care system are maxed out.”

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said the government also is looking at using private surgical providers to do some of the surgeries on the public bill.

The government recently announced the opening of a new surgical theatre at the Pasqua Hospital, which health officials hope will increase the number of operations done in Regina by 1,000 a year. Even so, Merriman has said the surgical backlog will take years to pare down.

“As we announced last year, we’re adding 7,000 more surgeries, so we’re going from just under 90,000 to 97,000 this year (in) planned surgeries,” he said Wednesday. “The year after that, we’ll be going up to 13,000 additional surgeries.

“We do have probably 35,000 surgeries that are backlogged right now and this is our process that we’re going to be able to start to deal with that. But to deal with it, we also need the people, so that’s why we’re executing our human resource strategy to bring some more people into Saskatchewan.”

To that end, the government announced in the budget funding for the recruitment and retention of health-care professionals to help address the wait list.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation unimpressed

The government announced it will start collecting the Provincial Sales Tax on certain items starting Oct. 1, including tickets to museums, fairs, movies, entertainment activities and sporting events like Saskatchewan Roughriders games.

That didn’t sit well with Todd MacKay, the prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“This is really disappointing for taxpayers,” he said. “We’ve all been through a tough time (due to COVID). The cost of everything is going up (due to inflation). Now you’re finally looking forward to going to a Rider game and the tickets are going to cost more.

“This is the last thing taxpayers needed. Taxpayers needed relief. We’re seeing in other provinces governments finding ways to cut costs for taxpayers and here in Saskatchewan, we’re getting nickeled and dimed on some new tax increases …

“And then on top of all of that, even though we’re paying more tax, the government’s still borrowing more money; the deficit is still going up. That means more taxes later. This is a really disappointing budget.”

MacKay was particularly frustrated that the government couldn’t find ways to reduce its spending while still dinging taxpayers with the PST.

“The government is saying to the taxpayer, ‘You’ve got to find a way to save some money because you’ve got to pay more tax, but we’re not going to find anywhere to save money,’ ’’ he said.

“I noticed a line item: General government, up $20 million. It’s so general they don’t even have a name for it and yet they need $20 million more for it. And that’s about the amount that some of these nickel-and-dime tax increases cost.

“You looked around (and) you couldn’t find any way to save money? That’s really disappointing. Every family (and) every business in Saskatchewan has found a way to save money in the last number of years. It needs to happen here in the Legislature as well.”

REAL, Roughriders react

Tim Reid, the CEO of Regina Exhibition Association Limited, said in a statement the expansion of the PST was “a surprise” to the organization as it tries to rebound from two difficult years due to COVID.

“As the province’s largest sport and entertainment district, this change will impact our business operations and entertainment goers, the significance of which needs to be fully understood,” Reid wrote.

The new tax would be charged on tickets to events at Mosaic Stadium and the Brandt Centre, so Reid is eager to hear more from the provincial government about its use in the future.

“There is currently a substantial infrastructure deficit in sport and entertainment facilities throughout Saskatchewan,” Reid wrote. “We hope the revenue earned through the addition of the PST to admission and entertainment charges will help address this need and be reinvested.”

The Roughriders issued a statement late Wednesday afternoon, saying they were “surprised” by the PST announcement.

“As a not-for-profit sports team and despite rising inflation costs, we worked tirelessly to minimize the financial impact on our fans,” the CFL team wrote. “Unfortunately, we know today’s decision will impact many in our community who are looking forward to coming together on Rider game day and for the 2022 Grey Cup.

“We will be in communication with our fans and season-ticket holders once we have a greater understanding of what effect this change will have on all of us.”

Restaurants Canada concerned

Mark von Schellwitz, a vice-president for Restaurants Canada, said the organization had hoped for more help in the budget.

More than 13,000 Canadian restaurants have closed during the pandemic and, with inflation sending food costs up, more restaurants also are facing bankruptcy.

There wasn’t any help in the budget.

“We’re a really important contributor to every single community in the province and when we recover, so do the communities that we’re in,” von Schellwitz said. “Our members will be somewhat disappointed that there wasn’t more in this budget to help the struggling hospitality sector.”

The budget did raise the commission rate on VLTs from 15 per cent to 18 per cent, but von Schellwitz is concerned that will be offset by the expansion of the PST.

“Now’s the time, especially in this inflationary environment, that we need to give consumers all the incentives they can to go out and spend their discretionary income, and that will help all of these struggling hospitality and entertainment businesses as well,” he said.

“While (the tax) is not a big measure, it certainly sends the wrong signal where right now we should be encouraging consumers to go out and spend more money.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Logan Stein