Cam Goff, NDP Candidate for Arm River

In this election, Saskatchewan voters will choose between two very different visions for the future of our province. One vision remains on the path the current government has trod for the past twelve years where the corporate interests of its big business backers control the province, with little regard for what’s best for its citizens. The continued erosion of our basic institutions during the Saskatchewan Party’s tenure has left our province in a precarious situation. Th...e NDP’s vision is centered on making Saskatchewan a better place for its people, where their needs provide the direction and actions that will steer our province into a thriving future. Improvements in health care are a major issue that will be center stage in the NDP’s plan to improve the lives of Saskatchewan people. This will be accomplished by building new infrastructure where necessary, and by increasing the number of health care professionals working in our system. Hiring more doctors, registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses will help both rural and urban citizens access the care that they need in a timely manner. As well, the NDP will design a better plan for the care of our senior citizens. We will legislate and enforce minimum standards in long-term care homes and hire additional continuing-care assistants. We will build the best home care in Canada, which will allow seniors to remain in their own homes, as close to their support network, as long as possible especially important in rural areas. We will also establish an independent Senior’s Advocate. Education may be the most important tool that we can provide to our children, and the one that ensures our brightest future. The NDP will work with school divisions to address class size and hire additional teachers, educational assistants, and support staff. We’ll increase funding for mental health support, invest in a rural education strategy, and provide affordable and accessible childcare. Under the NDP, building the infrastructure that our province needs will prioritize using Saskatchewan companies and Saskatchewan workers. Our Crown Corporations can provide the lead in hiring workers to build the projects that will be essential to our province moving forward, while making sure that the benefits of that work remain in at home. Projects will range from building green energy works to construction of internet and cellular networks that provide rural and northern areas with the communications that they need to prosper. I believe that the measure of a government is taken by the quality of life that its citizens enjoy. Ryan Meili and the NDP will put people first by ensuring that all Saskatchewan residents have the best services and programs that the province can afford. New Democrats will work from day one on a transparent, well-planned return to fiscal health for the province. We will put people and families at the heart of our budgets and ensure a system that is fair and democratic.

Rural women have turned their minds to how they are going to manage this fall. Many will still be working from home or on the farm now that school has started. The back to school plan is children in underfunded, crowded classrooms. There are ongoing discussions about childcare centres and afterschool programs not operating this year. For those with family members vulnerable to COVID-19, this may mean a continuation of homeschooling. This has major impacts on rural women bec...ause the added responsibility of caring for children often falls to them, so they are going to have to figure out how to make this work. It is beyond stressful. For many rural women the pandemic has brought into focus why quality affordable childcare in rural areas is needed. Access to childcare is critical for moms who work from home, work on the farm, and head off to jobs. Additionally, parents know this generation of children has been affected by the disruption to their education caused by the pandemic. Many women also care for vulnerable, disabled or elderly family members. Often families cannot access care for relatives due to a lack of local availability, space, regulation, appropriate staffing levels and the high cost. There are also families who have taken their loved ones out of care homes because of the risk posed by the coronavirus. Women know why it’s called the sandwich generation; it is mainly women who are sandwiched between looking after the young and the old, all while trying to maintain their career. Employment figures show that most of the low waged workers who were laid off or lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic were women in the service sector and health care. Statistics show that the face of poverty in Saskatchewan is largely female, and the pandemic will worsen and deepen their poverty. Women have never come close to achieving equal pay before Covid-19, and the pandemic will set them back even more. Women need a government that carefully considers the needs of rural women and rural communities. Women need a government to recognize the unpaid work they perform. Women need a government that cares about early childhood education. Rural women, and rural communities, need high quality home care and long-term care. Women across the province, and particularly in rural communities have been let down by the current government. But we can make a different choice this falla government that takes the challenges women are facing seriously, and works to address them. Let’s elect a NDP government that puts Saskatchewan people first.

It’s time to declare high-speed internet an essential service. It’s time to close the gaps in rural, northern and Indigenous connectivity exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has highlighted the disparity between rural and urban Saskatchewan in available service providers and digital bandwidth. Health, education, business and public services all depend on connectivity, and our families do too! Health care during the pandemic is being delivered by telehealth links, wi...th appointments being cancelled and replaced by video-conferencing or telephone appointments. Unfortunately, many rural and northern residents do not have the bandwidth they need to access on-line health services. In education, some classroom instruction has been suspended and is being delivered through remote/distant learning. In rural areas, downloading educational materials requires high-speed internet. Without it, our rural, Indigenous and northern students don’t have equal access to educators and online supports. They are being left behind. Many rural businesses rely on the internet, and are at a disadvantage when their connectivity is both unreliable and under capacity. We have to recognize that they need reliable high-speed internet each and every day, and ensure that our economic plan includes providing the connectivity that rural businesses need. Public services rely on communication and require consistent, affordable high-speed internet and cellular services. The response to COVID-19 required many of these offices to close and people to work from home, but rural internet is not capable of meeting this demand. Rural people should not have to participate in virtual meetings by holding phones next to computer speakers and microphones. Connectivity is also essential for our social wellbeing. During quarantines and lockdowns, this means using social media, but inadequate bandwidth can make this impossible. Physical distancing has resulted in social isolation for seniors and family members who have inadequate internet service or none at all. Reliable internet provides peace of mind and is important for our safety, security, and mental health. Our provincial government needs to accept reliable internet as a responsibility, not a profit motive. SaskTel should be given a mandate to provide connectivity as an essential service, ensuring equal and affordable cellular and internet services are made available to all rural, northern and Indigenous communities. It’s time to bring rural internet services into the 21st century!

To sell the Crowns, or not to sell? There is no question! The government of Saskatchewan lists 20 Crown corporations on their website. Historically, various Crowns were established because private suppliers were simply too costly, or the private sector was preferentially supplying services to large centres only, leaving rural areas without essential services. The purpose of the Crown Corporations has taken different turns under the different governing parties. Under the NDP,... Crowns were treated with a Commonwealth lens where the primary goal was to supply the needs of citizens and not the making of profits. The Sask Party has used the Crowns for the benefit of its members (Regina Bypass, Global Transportation Hub), and Crown assets are sold to pay off the escalating debt, leaving government revenues smaller than they should be. The result is proportionally fewer employees and hollowed out services. Rural internet has been dubbed intermittentnet with connectile dysfunction by its users. Cell service? Can you hear me now? What could have been good jobs and pensions for Saskatchewan’s workers means private out-of-province companies get the work, with industries doing their own inspections, which has never ended well. From 2017 to 2019 the Sask Party closed and sold off the assets of the STC, Land Titles services, and Grain Car Corporation (2017). They sold off liquor stores, Saskatchewan Community Pastures, Crown land, closed the Hearing Aids Program, allowed private MRIs (which increased public wait times), and privatized multiple public services. Given the dismal financial position that the Sask. Party has placed the province in, and their previous history, there is little doubt that they will undertake a sell-off of the remaining Crowns as a quick way to source cash. The NDP will use the Crowns as an engine of growth, allowing them to truly connect rural Saskatchewan, making internet connectivity an essential service. Let’s have the Crowns empowered to operate for the public good, supplying good stable jobs with pensions, and use our workers to build the economy of tomorrow, upgrading our electricity grid and supplying jobs in renewable energy. Let’s end insecurity in work and focus on people, not profit at any cost. Let’s keep the Crowns vibrant, flexible and relevant so the province is stronger, modern and able to once again provide the services rural people need. On October 26, is there really any question about what’s better for Saskatchewan?

I'm Cam Goff, and I'm running to be your NDP MLA for Arm River. Let's elect a government that puts people first. Advance polls are open from Oct 20-24, and election day is October 26.

"A diminished faith in the path that the Saskatchewan Party has taken the province is partly what inspired Goff to put his name forward to run for this year’s provincial election, as well as being inspired by NDP Leader Ryan Meili’s direction and how the party intends to address key issues. "'I haven’t been very happy with some of the direction that the Sask Party has been taking lately, and I’ve been very impressed with Ryan Meili over the past ten years or so that he’s been... involved in Saskatchewan politics,' said Cam. 'I think he’s got the right approach to focus on the problems and solve the roots of the problems rather than just working at the edges and treating the symptoms.' "Goff’s experience in the political game as far as a provincial perspective may be new, but as a long-time farmer, his previous credentials may put him in a unique position to understand the daily troubles being faced by producers around Saskatchewan." https://www.theoutlook.ca//ndp-s-goff-understands-small-bu