Jeremy Cockrill on election night. The re-elected MLA is now orking to get caught up on the Health portfolio. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Cockrill Health

‘Work to be done’: Cockrill takes over as health minister

Nov 8, 2024 | 4:11 PM

Jeremy Cockrill is into day two into his new health portfolio and he said he’s excited.

“It’s another challenge but I do love a challenge so we’re looking forward to get into it,” he said.

Newly re-elected Premier Scott Moe shuffled his cabinet Thursday and placed Cockrill in the position of the Minister of Health. Previous to the election, he had been the Minister of Education.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from Saskatchewan people locally in Battlefords but certainly all around the province that people want better access to a primary care provider, whether that’s a doctor or a nurse practitioner,” Cockrill said.

“That’s going to be a real priority I think of mine and our government over the next little while is improving primary care access for all residents in Saskatchewan.”

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Speaking to some of the challenges, Cockrill said surgical wait times have been an ongoing issue since the pandemic and although he said they’ve been making progress, there is still work to be done.

“I think the other priority is really around recruiting more health care workers to our province,” Cockrill said.

“We’ve made some really good strides in terms of adding training seats in our province including ours in the Battlefords but there’s more work to do on that.”

In a press release, NDP Leader Carla Beck said she is “deeply troubled” by Cockrill’s appointment.

“Relations between teachers and the government hit an all-time low when Jeremy Cockrill was the Minister of Education,” it read in part.

“Saskatchewan already has the worst rates of healthcare worker retention in Canada, and Cockrill’s confrontational style will make a bad situation worse.”

The minister explained as he is just a couple of days into the file, the government is in the process of getting updates on briefings to where they are at with the contracts and with the bargaining process.

“I can’t speak yet to specifics around that but certainly that’s going to be a priority of our government to make sure we can get to an agreement that’s going to result in a fair deal but also improve patient outcomes,” he said.

Looking ahead to his new role, Cockrill said another important piece to the Battlefords and the northwest is recruitment and retention.

“The Battlefords specifically have been very successful in positions in our health care facilities in town,” said the minister of rural and remote recruitment incentive.

“Looking how we can take the successes that we’ve had in those programs and build on that so we can continue so that we can continue to fill the positions in the Battlefords and Meadow Lake.”

Transitioning from education minister to health minister, he said as the MLA for the area, he’s been a “Big advocate for improving offerings” at North West College.

“A couple of years ago, we added more (psychiatric) nursing seats,” he said of the expanded program.

Taking on the role he calls an honour, Cockrill said there is important work to be done.

“I really look forward to getting into that and doing the best I can on behalf of the people of the province.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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