Saskatchewan’s 2023-24 budget highlighted healthcare as one of its main priorities, with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) getting a small cut of the new funding.

The budget allocates $8.8 million to enhance EMS in rural and remote areas, support contracted EMS operators and upgrade systems and radios.

The budget delivers total health spending of $7.1 billion. The Ministry of Health received an increase of $431 million this year, for a $6.9 billion budget.

“It’s a great budget for ground EMS. It doesn’t meet everything 100 per cent, but that can’t happen over night,” Steven Skoworodko, the president of the Paramedic Services Chiefs of Saskatchewan (PSCS), said.

“Where they’ve allocated the money to go to in this budget, it’ll really help support retention. Some of that money is targeted towards an increase in funding so rural services can pay more and fund those positions so that the paramedics do want to stay in rural Saskatchewan.”

The PSCS highlighted three areas it wanted to see targeted in this year’s budget: supporting paramedic recruitment and retention, more operational funding and improving patient offload delays.

Skoworodko said he feels those were all addressed, but would like to see more help with the increased costs of operating ambulances in the future.

“A new ambulance is about $250,000 with nothing in it. If we can continue some advocacy and maybe look for future budgets that there’s a removal of PST on a brand new ambulance, that’ll definitely help ambulance operations,” he said, adding increased fuel costs is another ongoing concern in operations.

The Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (HSAS), the union representing some paramedics in Regina, said it’s not convinced the budget will help with widespread retention.

“It’s encouraging that healthcare has been made a priority by the government, but HSAS believes there needs to be a greater focus on EMS,” Karen Wasylenko, the president of HSAS, said.

“The $8.8 million is a very small percentage of the overall budget to improve a critical service within the healthcare system in this province.”

She said it’s unclear what the $8.8 million will do to get new people into jobs, or to keep the ones who are already working.

“While it sounds like a lot of money, across the province we have these gaps to fill and if we’re losing people, they have a lot of catching up to do,” she said.

“We need some real serious looking here and it’s time for action to get positions filled, in Regina as well as in rural and remote areas.”

In January, the provincial government announced 24.5 new full time equivalent paramedic jobs in Regina.

As of Friday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) confirmed eight full-time positions have been filled. Six of those were previously internal casual positions. Four casual paramedic positions were added.

“Very shortly, ten more full-time positions will be posted with an estimated start date of June 15,” the SHA said in a statement.

The NDP said the budget allocation for EMS is a “drop in the bucket” for what’s needed.

“This doesn’t match the need that we’re hearing out there,” NDP MLA Vicki Mowat said.

“We hear from folks consistently that the supports are not there when they need them. I think that’s evidenced when we see people having to waiting hours for an ambulance to show up and hours at the emergency room to be offloaded by the ambulance.”

In addition to the new funding for EMS, the health minister said funding focused on other sections of the health care sector and across hospitals should alleviate some pressures felt by paramedics.

“We’ve had a 40 per cent reduction in our ER wait times with our ambulance crews. We need to improve on that, but we’re moving in the right direction,” Merriman said.

“It’s making sure that it’s efficient throughout our health care system, that people are getting discharged in time so we can create the space for people that are having an emergency situation.”

PLAN TO RECRUIT

The Minister of Health hopes new seats for paramedic training at Saskatchewan Polytechnic will help fill positions in the future.

“Those individuals take about a year to 18 months to be able to go through the system, so once those go through it’ll help out,” Merriman said Thursday.

“We’ve had very good success in recruiting paramedics. Not just in larger centres, but rural as well.”

The Paramedic Services Chiefs of Saskatchewan has also been involved in recruiting more emergency medical responders.

“It’s definitely a lower level but it’s a much shorter course. It’s only an 80 hour course. People are able to go through and write a licensing exam, then they’re licensed to do more basic driving and basic skills along with a primary care paramedic or an advanced care paramedic,” Skoworodko said.

“There’s a lot of opening positions across the province.”

The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) is concerned about the plight of social assistance recipients. This week’s provincial budget offered a $60 monthly increase. SUMA says the amount falls short of needs, with municipalities left to address hunger and homelessness.

Kelly Anderson has been living on social assistance since injuring his knee four years ago. After paying rent, he has only $200 a month to live on.

“The SIS program is not working for me. It’s not working for many people because the cost of living is just unbelievable,” he said

This week’s provincial budget provided social assistance recipients an extra $60 a month, $30 for rent and $30 for food.

“We don’t get enough rent from the system. We have to use our living cost to cover most of our rent,” Anderson said.

SUMA also said the increase falls short.

“When we’re seeing people that don’t have places to live that are suffering, that are now congregating in our public facilities, in our libraries, on our streets, in front of businesses, that becomes the concern of our municipalities now,” said Randy Goulden, SUMA president.

The NDP Opposition says it understands where SUMA is coming from.

“Yeah, I think they’re right to be concerned. A lot of the fallout from this pretty disastrous new SIS program is, you know, falling to them to kind of pick up the pieces,” said NDP MLA Meara Conway.

The government believes that social assistance is keeping pace with rising costs.

“There was an increase of $11 million this year, $14 million and that has resulted, along with the Affordability Tax Credit, an increase of 15 per cent and so that’s outpaced inflation,” said Gene Makowsky, minister of social services.

SUMA believes more still needs to be done. It will debate a resolution at its upcoming spring convention, calling for higher social assistance payments to help the most vulnerable residents of their communities.

The highway has reopened to traffic and there are no longer detours in place following a multi-motor vehicle collision near Langenburg, Sask on Highway 16.

RCMP sent out a media release at 5:45 p.m. on Friday evening with the update.

Detours near the scene were in place for some time as crews were on the scene.

Police reminded motorists to drive with caution and adhere to all direction provided by emergency crews at the scene.

RCMP said conditions were foggy in the area on Friday morning.

Langenburg, Sask. is about 223 kilometres northeast of Regina.

Regina has 531 kilometres of asbestos cement pipes, according to findings by a W5 investigation.

CTV Regina Morning Live spoke with W5 correspondent Eric Szeto on Friday to learn more about the research.

Szeto said asbestos cement pipes were a popular material decades ago before it was discovered how toxic and harmful asbestos could be.

“It was so popular at one point, there was close to two million kilometres of this pipe around the world, including right here in Canada, but as these pipes start to age, as this infrastructure starts to go, they tend to fail catastrophically,” he said.

“There’s concern that these fibres go off, break off these pipes, and end up going into your taps, and you end up drinking it.”

W5 spent several months trying to figure out where the pipes are located and whether or not there is asbestos in their water. Part of their investigation brought them to the Queen City.

“We reached out to over 100 communities across the country,” he said. “Ninety per cent of the communities that responded still use asbestos in their piping, including Regina, where there’s over 500 kilometres of this stuff.”

“I think we should note with Regina, for example, there’s been thousands of pipe ruptures in recent decades, and that’s caused concern for activists that see this happening quite frequently.”

Szeto said to push the investigation forward, they wanted to find out where the asbestos is and if there is any in the water from the asbestos cement pipes.

“We ended up taking water samples from Canadian cities, including Regina, and got them sent off to a lab for analysis,” he said.

To find out the results, the full story, “Something in the Water,” will be aired on Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV’s W5.

U.S President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to tackle a number of cross-border irritants, after a day of meetings on Parliament Hill, emphasising how important shared values are to shared prosperity and longstanding liberty.

I cant think of a challenge we havent met together, Biden said during a joint press conference standing next to Trudeau. Today as we stand… at an inflection point in history, our nations are once again called upon to lead, and together I believe were answering the call.

In a joint statement the two leaders announced plans to further bolster Norad, expand the Safe Third Country Agreement to unofficial ports of entry to address irregular migration, launch a one-year energy transformation task force, and offer more support to Haiti.

Another major cross-border point of contention heading into Fridays meetings were Biden’s “Buy-America” approach and Canada’s need to compete with his Inflation Reduction Act.

On this, the joint statement indicates that the United States and Canada will work together toward an integrated North American approach that benefits U.S. and Canadian workers, suppliers, and products.

Here are the highlights of what Canada and the U.S. have agreed to.

•  Catalzye clean energy and strengthen the critical mineral sector: This commitment includes $250 million going towards Canadas semiconductor industry and US$50M in related Defence Production Act funding, bolstering and diversifying the North American supply chains, and IBM expanding a facility in Quebec. The joint statement also notes the launch of a new energy task force that will be chaired by the U.S. Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure Amos Hochstein and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland with a mandate to accelerate cooperation on critical clean energy opportunities… and to avoid and reduce disruptions to our integrated and mutually supportive supply chains.
•  Manage migration by revising the Safe Third Country Agreement: This move seeks to address the influx of irregular migration stemming from a loophole in the 20-year-old cross-border asylum pact. In addition to almost immediately closing all irregular points of entry like Roxham Road by permitting border officers to return irregular crossers to the closest port of entry, Canada will welcome an additional 15,000 migrants from the Western Hemisphere over the course of the year and both sides vow to focus on promoting legal pathways.
•  Protecting shared waters: This includes Canada spending $420 million to protect and restore the Great Lakes over the next decade, working together on a modernized treaty regime related to the Columbia River Basin, reach by this summer an agreement around reducing water pollution in the Elk-Kootenay watershed, in partnership with tribal nations and Indigenous people.
•  Bolstering global alliances and offering more to Haiti, Ukraine: This portion of the agreement will see Canada sent $100 million in additional equipment and support for the Haitian National Police to bolster Haitian-led solutions to the crisis and support peace and security. Both countries reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine and intent to impose economic costs on Russia. They both acknowledged a desire to condemn China, while finding ways to be competitive against its economy and collaborative on issues like climate change.
•  Invest in collective defence and security: When it comes to security issues, Canada is committing to spend an additional $7.3 billion in infrastructure for the arrival of F-35 fighter jets, from the $38.6-billion Norad modernization plan and another $6.96 billion on surveillance system modernization in the North. Stitched into this, the two countries also note plans to disrupt the illicit production and distribution of synthetic opioids like fentanyl and build a global coalition against these drugs.

In this serious time, with all the challenges we face, were doubling down on our partnership, and our friendship, Trudeau said during the joint press conference. Well also continue to work together as partners to keep our people safe. Keeping people safe also includes keeping asylum seekers safe, keeping our borders secure, and keeping our immigration system strong. 

The visit, Bidens first to Canada since taking office, was largely an effort to reaffirm the strength of the Canada-U.S. relationship after rocky years under the previous Trump administration, and to speak in-person about ways the two world leaders can work together to tackle the big challenges both countries and the world are facing.

Our enduring partnership is based on a mutual commitment to shared security, shared prosperity, and shared democratic values, reads part of a joint statement issued by Biden and Trudeau on Friday afternoon. As the closest of friends and allies, we remain committed to making life better for people on both sides of our shared border and to building a more free, equitable, secure, and prosperous world. 

AN AGE OF POSSIBILITIES: BIDENS SPEECH

The Biden-Trudeau press conference came on the heels of the main event of Bidens visit: his address to Parliament.

Becoming the ninth U.S. president to deliver a speech to Parliament, POTUS delivered a warm and affable speech in the glass-ceiling temporary House of Commons chamber, which he said Canada had done “a hell of a job” on. “Really beautiful.”

Bonjour Canada, was how he started. Then, for nearly 40 minutes, the U.S. president spoke to an audience of hundreds of MPs, senators, dignitaries, diplomats, Indigenous leaders, former prime ministers and governors general, and business stakeholders.

There were also everyday Canadians whose stories spoke to some of the core themes of the visit, from a Ukrainian woman to a steel worker.

The most notable guests that all in the chamber were clearly moved to see were Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who captured the attention of citizens on both sides of the border and sparked a massive diplomatic effort, after they were imprisoned in China from 2018 to 2021. They received numerous standing ovations and rounds of applause during various pre-Biden welcoming speeches, and during the main address.

Inviting them to take part was a clear indication of how pressing China is on the minds of both delegations. That played out in Bidens remarks, seeing him at one moment misspeak by saying he applauded China, but meant to say Canada.

Excuse me… you can tell what Im thinking about China, I wont get into that yet, he said, before saying with sincerity how very glad he was to see the two Michaels home and well.

Broadly Biden used the speech to drive home how important the Canada-U.S. partnership is, how closely tied the two countries are, and how much potential there is for both nations if that collaboration continues into the future.

Americans and Canadians are two people, two countries, in my view, sharing one heart. Its a personal connection. No two nations on Earth are bound by such close ties: friendship, family, commerce and culture. Our labour unions cross borders, so do our sports leagues, Biden said before quipping about how he likes Canadian hockey teams with the exception of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In addition to making some early news about the policy agreements reached on Friday, Biden spoke about the scourge of the opioid epidemic, his support for unions, how he took after Trudeau in appointing a gender-balanced cabinet, and how the two countries worked well together to get through the COVID-19 pandemic.

After two years of COVID, people began to even wonder, can we still do big things? Big things. We sure in hell can, Biden said. I believe with every fibre of my being that confidence can make most audacious dreams reality.

Clean energy and growing the green economy was another enduring theme through both Bidens speech and Trudeaus introductory remarks, and on a few occasions when topics like semiconductors were spoken to, Freeland could be seen fist-bumping Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

It has never been more clear that everything is interwoven. Economic policy is climate policy is security policy, Trudeau said, restating this sentiment a few times in his address.

Referring to Canada as a reliable ally and steady friend, Biden got one of a few standing ovations when he said: You will always be able to count of the United States of America.

Our destinies are intertwined and are inseparable ... because its a choice weve made, Biden said.

Both first lady Jill Biden and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau attended the speech, after spending the morning off the Hill meeting with young curlers to talk about mental health in sport and visiting the National Gallery of Canada for a luncheon and to see an exhibit focused on Canadian women artists. 

BIDENS BIG DAY ON THE HILL

The U.S. president arrived on Parliament Hill Friday morning to a lot of fanfare and with a lot to talk about, during his first official visit to Canada since taking office.

Rolling up onto Parliament Hill in The Beast nearly an hour behind schedule, Biden was met by a backdrop of American flags lining the street and extremely tight security.

The U.S. President was welcomed in West Block by House and Senate representatives, and opposition party leaders. Among those who greeted him were Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who Biden later had a pull-aside meeting with.

According to Poilievre, the pair discussed defence, Norad, exemptions for Canada in Buy American, and vaccine mandates.

“President Biden was very receptive. He wants to be a good friend and neighbor to Canada. And thats why I was so encouraged,” he said.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May also made a bit of a moment for herself, handing Biden a Peace by Chocolate bar from a Syrian refugee-turned Nova Scotia chocolatier.

After the handshakes, Biden signed the House and Senate guest books, and then moved as swiftly as his sizeable entourage could, one floor up for a bilateral meeting with Trudeau inside his office.

Offering brief remarks for the gathered media pool before the doors were closed for their private, roughly-30 minute chat, Biden said it was great to be in Canada.

He said that he always tells other world leaders how lucky America is to have Canada to the north at a time with so many geopolitical challenges, and while the two nations disagree occasionally, there is no difference when it comes to the democratic values they share.

What a real pleasure it is to welcome President Biden to Ottawa, back to Ottawa. Its so great to see you Joe, Trudeau said.

This tete-a-tete was followed by an expanded meeting with cabinet ministers and members of Bidens delegation.

While there was extensive pre-trip policy preparation between officials on both sides, this meeting was where the visits substantial policy conversations would have transpired, and the details of the aforementioned tangible commitments that came out of the visit would have been finalized.

In attendance for these high-level talks from the Canadian government were top-level PMO staffers, Trudeaus national security adviser Jody Thomas, as well as several cabinet ministers. Sitting on either side of the prime minister were Freeland, and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.

Among the American officials in the meeting were Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan, Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall, and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

GALA DINNER CAPS OFF WHIRLWIND VISIT

Once the substantive portion of the day was behind them, Biden, the first lady and the American delegation got ready for a gala dinner hosted by Trudeau and his wife, alongside 350 guests at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum.

Kicking off the evening, the prime minister gave a toast in which he noted the museum was a fitting location as in the coming years, a Canadian will be heading towards the moon as part of the Artemis II mission. He referenced the Canadian talent in the room, and the nations diversity in languages and cuisines, before raising his glass.

To shared history and shared hope, to shared prosperity, and to the shared peace and security that binds Canada and the United States together as allies as neighbors, and most importantly, as true friends, Trudeau said.

Here’s what was on the very flavours-of-Canada inspired menu.

And, heres a full rundown of who was on the guest list, a topic that sparked much political back-and-forth over Poilievres invitation.

Many in Ottawa were waiting to see whether Biden would make any impromptu visits that would put him in a public setting with Canadians, but that did not transpire.

Still, the capital was on high alert all day with a heightened police and first responder presence around the parliamentary precinct, military aircraft in the skies, and rolling road closures each time POTUS Secret Service motorcade was on the move, something some locals gathered to see. 

Biden and the first lady’s whirlwind overnight visit began on Thursday evening with a warm welcome from Canadian cabinet ministers and foreign affairs officials, followed by a brief meeting with Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and her husband Whit Fraser. The Bidens then had an intimate meeting with Trudeau and Gregoire Trudeau and their three children at their Rideau Cottage home, where a special locally-made “Friend-chip Goals” ice cream was scooped.

Bidens scheduled departure time from the Ottawa Airport was 9:25 p.m. on Friday night.

Sky-gazers and shutterbugs across much of Canada were treated to a spectacular display of northern lights Thursday night and into Friday morning.

The stunning light display was a result of an Earth-facing coronal hole on the sun and solar winds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The NOAA issued a geomagnetic storm watch early this week as result of the hole on the sun and a coronal mass ejection on Sunday.

The result of the suns activity produced auroras over northern skies, where a display of green, purple and red danced over much of Canada.

If you happened to miss Thursdays light show, theres still a chance for another show overnight Friday, according to NOAA.

Heres a look at some of the incredible photos shutterbugs shared on social media.

A Manitoba First Nation is enacting measures to combat an ongoing drug and addiction crisis while also calling on the federal and provincial governments to do more to address drug-related deaths within northern remote Indigenous communities.

St. Theresa Point is in a state of drug and addiction crisis, said St. Theresa Point First Nation Chief Elvin Flett.

Chief and Council can no longer accept that the proliferation of drugs and harmful substances within our community can continue without a significant plan.

St. Theresa Point First Nation is preparing to enforce new laws under its own traditional territory that will allow for the search of any persons personal items as a way to find illicit substances entering the community.

Non-community members who do not wish to comply will not be allowed entry into St. Theresa Point First Nation, no matter the individuals profession.

The drug traffickers and distributors will be subject to harsher consequences as a result of these Indigenous laws, said Chief Flett

The new provisions are in response to the recent deaths of two teenage girls in St. Theresa Point First Nation. Dayna Megan Madison Shingoose and Emily Marie Mason were found frozen on the morning of March 1, 2023, their deaths were cited as due to hypothermia, according to a release from the First Nation.

First Nation leaders say the deaths were a result of consuming illicit drugs. While an autopsy is being carried out by RCMP, the St. Theresa Point Chief and Council are not confident the process will delve into the root causes of the two female teenagers’ deaths.

The authorities, including the police, will sadly check it off without any consequences regarding who is responsible and who should be held accountable for the deaths, said Chief Flett, It will merely become a statistic.

St. Theresa Point First Nation is calling on the federal and provincial governments to implement new measures that will directly address the ongoing drug crisis plaguing the first nation, namely:

•  A special coroners inquest into the deaths of Dayna Shingoose and Emily Mason that will determine the causes of the two deaths Examine existing drug enforcement strategies and find out why theyre not working within remote communities;
•  Negotiations with federal and provincial representatives to create a comprehensive drug and addiction crisis resolution; and
•  More provincial support to increase more First Nation police officers and community security in St. Theresa Point First Nation.

We share the concern of the Chief of St. Theresa Point First Nation about the proliferation of illicit drugs and other intoxicants within the community, said Robert Cyrenne, director of communications and media relations for the Manitoba RCMP, in a statement provided to CTV News.

Targeting and dismantling drug traffickers, especially those who ship drugs from major centres and into remote communities remains a priority for the Manitoba RCMP, said Cyrenne. 

In order to cut off the drug supply brought into northern remote First Nations, Chief Flett is also asking the provincial government to allow for the searching of luggage of travellers flying into Manitobas north at the point of arrival to a First Nation community.

This measure has been effective in the past when we searched drugs in passenger luggage whereby drugs were confiscated by First Nation police officers, said Chief Flett.

A statement from a provincial spokesperson reads, in part, Working closely with Indigenous leadership via a Steering Committee to support the administration of Justice, the Manitoba government recently introduced amendments to the Police Services Act to expand the scope and authority of First Nations safety officers, which will provide First Nations with additional tools to address local public safety needs.

People are dying without any services to help them. This has been an outcry in terms of the resources that are needed in our First Nation communities, said Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick.

This community is only asking for what every other citizen in this country has: safety in their home, health services and fair access to justice, said Merrick.

A powdery substance was found Friday with a threatening letter in a mailroom at the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the latest security scare as the prosecutor weighs a potential historic indictment of former President Donald Trump, authorities said.

New York City police and environmental protection officials isolated and removed the suspicious letter, and testing determined there was no dangerous substance, Bragg spokesperson Danielle Filson said. The substance was sent to a city lab for further examination, police said.

Alvin, I am going to kill you, the letter said, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity.

The discovery, in the same building where a grand jury is expected to resume work Monday, came amid increasingly hostile rhetoric from Trump, a Republican who is holding the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign Saturday in Waco, Texas.

Hours earlier, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that any criminal charge against him could lead to potential death & destruction.

Trump also posted a photo of himself holding a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg, a Democrat. On Thursday, Trump referred to Bragg, Manhattans first Black district attorney, as an animal.

The building where the letter was found wasnt evacuated and business mostly went on as usual, with prosecutors coming and going and bicycle delivery workers dropping off lunch orders. The building houses various government offices, including the citys marriage bureau.

Security has been heavy around the court buildings and district attorneys office in recent days as the grand jury investigates hush money paid on Trumps behalf during his 2016 campaign.

Additional police officers are on patrol, metal barricades have been installed along the sidewalks and bomb sniffing dogs have been making regular sweeps of the buildings, which have also faced unfounded bomb threats in recent days.

In a memo to staff Friday, Bragg said the office has also been receiving offensive and threatening phone calls and emails. He thanked his staff of nearly 1,600 people for persevering in the face of additional press attention and security around our office and said their safety remains the top priority.

We will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly, which is what each of you does every single day, Bragg wrote.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said he will hold a prayer vigil for Braggs safety Saturday in Harlem. He and other Black leaders have condemned Trumps rhetoric about Bragg and billionaire George Soros, who backed a group that supported Braggs campaign, as not a dog-whistle but a bullhorn of incendiary and anti-semitic bile.

The grand jury, convened by Bragg in January, has been investigating Trumps involvement in a US$130,000 payment made in 2016 to porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied the claim.