REGINA -- The opposition NDP is calling on the provincial government to release the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s 2019 CEO Tour Report on long-term care.

The report is intended to outline what’s working well and where improvements are necessary.

“They are, at this moment and time, the best tool we have for accountability,” said NDP MLA Danielle Chartier.

The NDP said in a virtual press conference Thursday morning the 2019 report has yet to be released publicly the same way it had been in previous years.

On the government’s website as of Thursday, the most recent report available is from 2018.

“We need to see a robust and honest account of the state of affairs in long term care to be able to gauge the quality of long term care in Saskatchewan,” said Vicki Mowat, another NDP MLA.

The opposition aims to see the report released now due to the national scrutiny caused by the situation described in a report from the Canadian Armed Forces on the conditions inside several Ontario long-term care homes.

Premier Scott Moe says many of those working on the report have been preoccupied to date with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s also my understanding that the past year’s report is prepared and it’s very close to being ready. It’ll be released very, very shortly,” Moe said.

The opposition also called on the province to implement minimum care standards and staffing ratios in care homes.

Moe came to Thursday’s COVID-19 update prepared to respond.

“We do have guidelines for care here in this province, I brought them with me,” Moe said, referring to a book of documents beside him at the desk. “It was 191 pages of guidelines, and I would just go to the very opening page about halfway down where it says and I quote ‘the standards set within this manual are considered minimum standards’.”

“So we most certainly do have program guidelines for special care homes which are considered the minimum standards here in the province.”

The exact date the province will release the 2019 CEO Tour Report is unknown, but it is top of mind for the opposition with the legislature set to resume with limited capacity in only a few weeks.