Cockrill, Domotor give northwest perspective on province’s budget

“There were some safety concerns around that intersection,” he said.

Chris Odishaw, owner of Battleford Furniture, front left, chats with Cut Knife-Turtleford MLA Ryan Domotor before the Chamber on Tap session. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

On the new provincial budget, Cockrill said: “We’re at a pretty exciting time in the province.”

“Our economy in our province is growing faster than it has in over a century. That is incredible when you think about it,” he said.

That has helped the province invest in services, and be able to help pay down the provincial debt.

Cockrill said the budget particularly offers lots for the Battlefords in healthcare.

“When you talk about key services in the Battlefords, number one in my mind is healthcare,” he said. “We’ve come out of a difficult couple of years in terms of what the healthcare system looks like really around the world, but certainly we feel that here in the Battlefords like everywhere else.”

Cockrill said the province has added training seats for nursing professions, which also has a positive impact locally at North West College.

“There are now more training opportunities if you want to work in healthcare in this province than there have been in decades,” he said.

On the incentivization side, Cockrill said the province’s Health Human Resources Action Plan offers up to $50,000 over three years for a return-of-service agreement to attract new nursing professionals to rural and remote communities including the Battlefords.

“With those incentives, we’ve been able to fill 20 fulltime nursing positions in the last number of months,” he said. “I don’t know how many of you use the BUH [Battlefords Union Hospital] or some of our other healthcare facilities in the community, but 20 new fulltime nurses makes a big difference.”

Cockrill noted the Battlefords had a challenging time last year with family physician numbers, with one retiring and a couple of others moving elsewhere. He said there is some good news, as a new physician has since started in the Battlefords. As well, there’s another one, or possibly two, more physicians coming here before the summer.

“Some of us here may not have had a family doctor since last summer. So, that’s really positive news for our community,” Cockrill said.

On the issue of retention, he conceded it can be a challenge for the Battlefords and other smaller communities to acquire and keep healthcare professionals. He said the province’s plan to add training seats and incentives, and work with the existing staff to keep them here, will all help to boost the number of healthcare professionals locally.

“We’re serious about improving healthcare in the province,” Cockrill said. “I think our investments in this budget show that.”

Cockrill mentioned, also in the budget, because some residents have had concerns about security at the BUH ER at times, the province has added close to $400,000 in annual funding to beef up security at the BUH.

As well, another highlight of the budget is the announcement planning dollars have been set aside to look at replacing the aging Battlefords District Care Centre that serves the region.

“To see that process beginning this year is really exciting. I want to say thank you to [Battleford] Mayor [Ames] Leslie for being very collaborative on that,” Cockrill said.

Crime

On the issue of crime, Cockrill said the second Crime Reduction Team will be coming in the fall.

“That is going to make a significant difference,” he said. ”That type of investment recognizes we’ve got some challenges around public safety in the northwest…It’s a provincial priority to make sure our communities can be safe.”

Cockrill said the province’s other priority is paying down the provincial debt.

“There are a number of business owners here today. At the end of the day, there is a cost to borrowing money,” he said. “If you are a business owner, you know that eventually the bill comes due, and you have to pay that.”

So, between last year’s budget and this year’s budget, the province is retiring up to $2 billion of provincial debt.

“Paying down the debt,… it’s a priority to ensure we can manage the debt we take on,” Cockrill said.

For his part, Domotor highlighted the benefits to agriculture in the budget. The province’s average crop insurance coverage for 2023 is set at a record-high level of $446 per acre, due to increased commodity prices and yield coverage.

“[It] goes quite a way for agricultural producers to help with the additional input costs they are seeing,” Domotor said.

He also talked about the province’s Physician Incentive Program, which was increased to $200,000 to attract more family physicians to rural and northern Saskatchewan.

It will benefit places like Wilkie that have been struggling to find a new physician for the past year.

“Trying to get those staff and physicians out in rural communities is tough, especially when it’s a single-person office,” Domotor said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Angela Brown

Cockrill, Domotor give northwest perspective on province’s budget

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