Sask. Party, NDP spar over when province first had a pandemic plan ready The government denied the charge a cabinet minister lied, citing the Freedom of Information request from which the NDP drew its criticisms.
Author of the article: Lynn Giesbrecht
Publishing date: Mar 11, 2021 • March 11, 2021 • 3 minute read • Vicki Mowat, the NDP MLA for Saskatoon-Fairview, speaks to media during a news conference in the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina, Saskatchewan on Mar. 11, 2021. NDP MLA Nicole Sarauer is seen on the right. Photo by BRANDON HARDER /Regina Leader-Post
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The Saskatchewan NDP is accusing the provincial government of lying about when it first had a pandemic plan in place, prompting a denial from the province and an accusation of its own that the NDP is politicizing health officials’ early responses to COVID-19.
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Saskatchewan’s advocate for children and youth says her office is working on a “state of the nation” report on children’s mental health and the services available to them.
Lisa Broda said her office has spent more than a year going to every corner of Saskatchewan, asking hundreds of stakeholders what’s working, what isn’t, and what they want to see next.
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“It’s been a long-standing, persistent issue of this office for a very long time,’ Broda said.
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An unfounded conspiracy theory centred around the belief that only former U.S. President Donald Trump can save the world from a cannibalistic, blood-harvesting cabal sacrificing children found its way into a Saskatchewan homicide case earlier this year.
It’s one of the most recent examples of the clear presence of conspiracy theory believers in the province.
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Kevin Michael Hollman charged with second-degree murder in the death of his mother, Debbie Hollman, and with attempted murder in the stabbing of his father, Gary Hollman left a trail of posts and videos on social media referencing conspiracy theories like QAnon before his mother’s death on Jan. 6. His Facebook page and blog site are no longer available to view publicly; his YouTube channel is still viewable.
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The body that controls Wascana Centre has quietly amended its bylaws in light of a court decision that found the previous rules unconstitutional, but critics say the move falls short.
The Provincial Capital Commission (PCC) board voted on Monday “to replace three current bylaws at the centre of the court decision Saskatchewan v. Durocher,” which pitted the government against a Metis man holding a ceremonial fast on the West Lawn of Wascana Park to raise awareness about suicide.
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Government relations spokesperson Shaylyn McMahon said this week the ministry “is considering options for an online system where municipal finances would be publicly available, including … on Saskatchewan.ca.”
MacKay acknowledged 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic likely left the province scrambling on some fronts with unprecedented workloads.
McMahon alluded to that in her response to the Leader-Post, saying project timelines needed adjustment “as the ministry’s focus was on supporting municipalities through the pandemic.”
But MacKay underscored it’s fairly simple to publicly post “basic PDF (portable document format) files” to the web. “It’s not rocket science,” he said.