Sask. premier thankful for pandemic progress as 'challenging' 2021 comes to an end

As 2021 nears its end, Saskatchewan’s premier is reflecting on a turbulent year where the province experienced the extreme highs and lows of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a year where the province moved from the hope of COVID-19 vaccinations to a scramble to mitigate the deadly fourth wave, Premier Scott Moe said he is thankful for the progress the province made to contain the virus’ transmission.

Moe sat down with CTV News to look back at 2021, discussing the physical and mental challenges presented by COVID-19, the future of health care in Saskatchewan and his relationship with the federal government.

THE FOURTH WAVE

In 2021, Saskatchewan experienced its worst wave of COVID-19 to date, driven by the emergence of the Delta variant.

Premier Moe said while 2021 presented challenges on the COVID-19 front, the province is in a much better position now than it was last December.

“We’re close to two million vaccines that have delivered a wealth of knowledge on what works and what is effective in controlling the spread of this virus,” Moe said.

“We're going into Christmas in a totally different position than we were last Christmas.”

The province more than quintupled its total COVID-19 cases from 2020 to 2021, rising from 15,350 through 2020 to 82,208 as of Dec. 20. In that same time frame, COVID-19-related deaths rose from 153 to 942, active cases peaked at 4,864 and Saskatchewan hospitals set records for both single-day hospital census totals (356) and COVID-19 ICU census totals (85).

Despite a fall fourth wave where Saskatchewan was one of the hardest hit provinces in Canada, Moe said he does not regret the government’s decision to open up the province in July.

“I think that decision was made with the information we had at that point in time, just like the decision in the middle of September, where we brought in the proof of vaccination mandate and the masking mandate again,” Moe said.

The premier made headlines in early December when he said the province should do everything to ensure it is not “stigmatizing the unvaccinated.” Moe stands by those comments, but said it does not change the message of his government regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

“Vaccines do work and they greatly reduce the number of hospitalizations that we have,” Moe said. “It is the most effective tool that we have.”

“In no way do my comments around being able to disagree without being disagreeable in any way change the policy of the government. Because what we are doing as Saskatchewan people is ultimately working,” Moe continued.

As Saskatchewan looks towards 2022, the Omicron variant is presenting a new challenge. The premier said the province will have to be “careful” as the year progresses, but added that society is going to have to continue learning how to live with COVID-19.

“We're finding our way through this, we continue to plan for the future in government and I would encourage people to continue to plan for the future, both professionally and in their personal lives,” he said.

“COVID at times is going to present new variants and new challenges, yes, and we're going to deal with those as they arrive.”

HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM PUSHED TO ITS LIMITS

While the province was dealing with the toll of the fourth wave of COVID-19, Saskatchewan health-care facilities and their workers were pushed to their limits.

As ICU beds reached their capacity, the province was forced to send some intensive care patients to Ontario hospitals, to alleviate the strain on the health care system.

As a result of the health-care overload the province experienced, Moe said the government is actively looking at “a number of changes” that can be made to address those challenges in the future.

He said the first step he would like to see taken is for the federal government to become a full funding partner in provincial health care and increase the Canada Health Transfer (CHT).

“That needs to happen, so that the provincially deliver health care systems can address the pressures that they may have in their various regions,” Moe said.

The CHT is a transfer of funds between the federal government and provincial governments that provides “long-term predictable funding for health care, and supports the principles of the Canada Health Act,” according to the Government of Canada.

Within the province, Moe said the next step is to increase health-care capacity for long-term care, surgeries and critical care.

“But then also how are you able to be nimble and flex that up should you need without having to shut down vast amounts of services in other areas of the health-care system? These are things in discussions that all provinces are having as we speak,” Moe said.

He also highlighted the need to catch up on the backlog of surgeries created by service slow downs. The province released its plan for medical service resumptions and an accelerated strategy to lower the wait times for surgeries.

“We need to catch up on that and then make ensure that as we look ahead, we have a sustainable number of whatever the treatment is, that's being provided to, in our case, Saskatchewan people so that we don't get behind again,” Moe said.

THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

While the world focused on COVID-19, the mental toll of the pandemic led to troubling overdose and suicide numbers in Saskatchewan.

The province has confirmed 211 overdose deaths so far in 2021, as of Dec. 2. There are an additional 195 suspected drug toxicity deaths still under investigations.

Saskatchewan saw a large jump in overdose deaths in 2020, confirming 319 – up from 179 in 2019. The province is on pace to surpass that total this year, if a majority of suspected overdose deaths are confirmed.

Moe said the conversation surrounding mental health and addictions will continue and likely increase in the coming years. He pointed to some of his government’s mental health commitments that were presented in this year’s throne speech.

“(There are) 150 intensive mental health rehabilitation beds that we are going to get into place over the course of the next three years,” Moe said.

“You're seeing our urgent care centres … that are being built in Saskatoon and Regina will have a mental health intake to ensure that we can provide that continuum of care for someone that may be having a mental health crisis or a an addictions challenge.”

The Saskatchewan Coroner has confirmed 108 suicides in 2021, according to the latest data from Oct. 6, 2021. The coroner notes these numbers are preliminary and not all death investigations have been concluded. Saskatchewan confirmed 197 suicides in 2020.

A DEVASTATING DISCOVERY

A Saskatchewan First Nation was the centre of national and international headlines in June after a devastating discovery at the site of a former residential school.

Cowessess First Nation said it located 751 unmarked gravesites on the grounds of Marieval Indian Residential School site on June 25.

• 'Truth must prevail': Cowessess chief reflects on a year of grief and prosperity

Premier Moe toured the site during a visit to the community in July.

“It was quite overwhelming actually,” Moe said. “I encourage everyone to take some time to really understand the history behind the residential schools and our shared history as we find our way through the reconciliation process and we do that together as Indigenous folks as well as non-Indigenous people.”

He said his government is working with Indigenous communities to find out what the Government of Saskatchewan can do to support the ongoing conversation.

“It started with $2 million to help identify these graves, but it needs to go far beyond that,” Moe said. “It is thankfully, with recognition of our signs that will be erected, recognizing treaty boundaries that we have here in the province, and that’s just a small step.”

Moe added that in Saskatchewan – and across Canada -- more work needs to be done to help the reconciliation process and that “we need to keep at it.”

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

Premier Moe spent much of 2021 trading barbs with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a wide array of topics, including the province’s COVID-19 response, the federal government’s handling of the vaccine rollout, the carbon tax, private MRI clinics and the federal election.

Moe described his relationship with the federal government as “policy-based,” noting the $10-a-day childcare agreement signed by the province and feds in August and Saskatchewan-chaired discussions about COVID-19 restart funding, as areas where their policies align.

On the other hand, the premier said he takes issue with the federal government’s involvement in the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow Scotland, where the country signed on to cap oil and gas emissions, in an attempt to reach net-zero by 2050.

“When the federal government goes to Glasgow, Scotland to the climate change conference, without any consultation with the industry or with provinces and moves forward with an emissions cap on the energy industry, which has a tremendous impact on working people in this province, we're going to take issue with that policy,” he said.

Moe said he takes “great issue” with some of the federal government’s other policies that impact the natural resources and energy industry.

“We’re going to continue to do everything that we can to sustain and provide the opportunity for economic growth and quite frankly, economic sovereignty in this province,” he said.