REGINA - The Saskatchewan Party began the second week of the provincial election campaign focused on women’s health care and cancer prevention.
Premier Scott Moe was in Kiwanis Waterfall Park alongside Laura Ross running for re-election in Regina Rochdale, and Sarah Wright running in Regina Lakeview, announcing their party would commit to a plan for cervix self-screening for Saskatchewan women.
According to the Sask Party news release, Saskatchewan women will have the option to receive a self-sampling kit in the mail to screen for human papillomavirus, which is the leading cause of cervical cancer.
Saskatchewan would become the second province, to offer self-screening as an alternative to the Pap test, following British Columbia.
“We want to make sure that women have every opportunity to ensure that they self-screen themselves, they do the Pap test, they send it in, because early detection means that we can do the best we can for those women,” Ross said.
Ross said once this program is in place, all women ages 25 to 69 will be given the option to receive a self-screening kit in the mail.
Both Ross and Wright are cancer survivors themselves — Ross was treated for breast cancer while Wright had surgery earlier this year.
Wright said that she had jotted down idea on how womens’ cancers could be less stressful in between surgeries last year. She said when she contacted the Sask Party, “I was hoping that maybe I could just email my ideas to someone.” But she said they not only took her ideas seriously but sought out her input.
“Early detection is the cure for cancer, and what I love about today's announcement is it's adding dignity of at-home testing, and that is so important to women and women's health and women's mental health.”
She thanked the health ministers Everett Hindley and Tim McLeod ”for their time that they took and the seriousness they took when just little old me found my way into their offices. And I really want to thank Premier Moe as well. He really has a heart for women's health.”
Moe followed that announcement with a pledge the Sask Party will introduce a 50 per cent refundable tax credit to a maximum of $20,000 for the cost of fertility treatments, translating into a direct benefit of about $10,000.
“We want to make it more affordable for women, for couples, and for families who may be in need of fertility treatments to start to grow their families right here in our province. We want the best quality of life and a bright future for everyone that lives in Saskatchewan, and that includes improving access to all aspects of women's health care.”
When asked why this was a tax credit as opposed to having it covered under provincial health, Moe replied this was determined through the discussions they had with various individuals. Moe also defended it by saying it was “much more than we had before and much more than virtually any other province has as well. I think this is much more helpful than it has been in the past.”
“And if we're re-elected, we'd move very, very quickly on this tax credit for Saskatchewan individuals that are choosing to partake fertility treatment that currently isn't subsidized in any way.”
Doing something on in vitro fertilization issue is something the NDP had been calling for for years in the Legislature. Following the Sask Party’s campaign announcement, the NDP’s Meara Conway wondered why it wasn’t brought in sooner.
“We've heard from families who have to remortgage their home, take a second job, or just simply cannot afford to try to start the family that they want,” said Conway to reporters.
“It's disappointing that the Sask Party did not take action on that sooner. The Premier acknowledged today, you know, we've stood up and asked for this. I think he said over 50 times in the legislature. I'd be surprised if it wasn't more.”
On the self-screening, Conway said it’s “definitely not a bad initiative, but sort of what strikes me is that it does nothing to address the larger crisis in health care. It does nothing to address the lack of doctors, the fact that nurses are publicly saying they can no longer provide safe care to people, the fact that our emergency rooms are at 350 per cent capacity, and, of course, the fact that when a person in Saskatchewan is diagnosed with cancer today, they do not have faith that they can access the care that they need right here in Saskatchewan.”
When asked if there was a disconnect with what nurses and doctors were saying, Conway said the “disconnect is alarming. I can't tell you how many people come to our constituency offices talking about how they can't access the care they need. We have the longest wait times in Canada.”
“We have people having to go out of province for care. We have a Minister of Health (Hindley), I know there was lots of accolades today about how well he listened. He didn't even show up to talk to nurses when he said he would. So, absolutely, the disconnect, it was dramatic.”
