Letters: Saskatchewan Party is failing the rural areas that support it

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Since the Saskatchewan Party and the United Conservative Party in Alberta are supported primarily by rural voters, one might assume that their policies would benefit rural areas.

Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and recently announced as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, made some interesting comments about what benefits small towns and rural areas. “The two things that are central to small communities: schools and hospitals.”

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Walz commented on school vouchers: “How are you going to get a private school in a town of 400 people? There’s not going to be a private school there. The private school is going to stay where it is… These people talk about how bad the public schools are. For many of us, public schools were everything. That was our path.”

When it comes to health care, the Saskatchewan Party’s main marketing tool for rural areas is the never-ending campaign against the NDP government of over 30 years ago. Perhaps we should ask what improvements have been made in health care over the past 17 years and what are the plans for the future?

Is it about more privatization? Is it an endorsement of anti-science rhetoric like that used by Premier Moe in Speers and spread at an “Injection of Truth Town Hall” sponsored by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith of the Saskatchewan Party-like UCP?

If we want teachers and nurses to live and work in rural areas, we must support them and improve the structures in which they work, rather than hindering them with conspiracy theories and diverting funds to private organisations.

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David Steele, Saskatoon

Remove all barriers that underlie bias in hiring

Read the article: “How hiring bias affects workers in Canada’s food service industry” (Leader-Post print edition, August 3).

This article examines employer perceptions of an employee’s job “fit” as a barrier to entry into the restaurant industry. It also identifies barriers to advancement after hiring, including placement in low-paying and lower-prestige jobs with irregular hours.

As a recipe, she suggests: “Targeted anti-racism programs that involve actively engaging with and changing racist policies, practices and attitudes.” There is no doubt that these programs would be beneficial.

Another initiative could be to change the type of work that leads employers to assess what type of person is a “perfect fit”. This would mean increasing the influence of employees in determining working conditions.

Currently, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that workers’ rights to submit suggestions about working conditions, picketing and strikes are rights protected by the Charter. There is currently no legislative process that allows workers to exercise these rights.

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Obstacles include resistance from employers, which would reduce their control in the workplace, and resistance from unions, given their role as gatekeepers to the introduction of collective bargaining. Perhaps the latter are also obstacles that could be addressed.

Dan Cameron, Regina

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