NDP wants province to call on military for help with COVID-19

As COVID-19 cases rise by hundreds each day and hospitalizations continue to hit record highs, Saskatchewan’s NDP is calling for the provincial government to extend a request to the Canadian military for help.

“It’s time that we admit that we need help before it’s too late,” NDP MLA and Health Critic Vicki Mowat said Wednesday during a media conference outside the Regina Armoury.

Mowat said Saskatchewan’s health-care system is “bracing for impact” and suggested the system is heading toward a collapse.

“We are currently in a crisis right now with a government that is not only refusing to act but worse even refusing to acknowledge critical issues until it’s too late,” said Mowat.

“What we’re hearing from folks on the ground is that our ICU capacity is so close, we are in fact over capacity. We’re using children’s intensive care unit beds to house adults. If there was a significant accident in our province, if there were folks that need to go into ICU, that capacity is not there for them.”

The Saskatchewan Health Authority on Wednesday announced the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon would be accepting selected adults up to the age of 40 to ease the burden on ICUs in the province.

As of Tuesday, 78 of the 101 ICU beds in the province were full.

Mowat pointed out other provinces like Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta have asked for help from the military.

She was in army cadets and served with the Canadian Army Reserve for 11 years before getting into politics, and she said she knows there are hundreds of regular and reserve members who want to serve and would answer the call.

“We are in a crisis right now and we have folks that are trained in a whole host of different areas to be able to provide that service,” said Mowat.

She said the members of the military could do anything from helping in hospitals — if they’re trained in that way — to providing logistical and planning support to just providing boots on the ground for things like cleaning, transportation and contacting members of the public.

Mowat got in a few shots at Premier Scott Moe in the process, saying he ignored signs of the fourth wave to come all summer and it has left the province short-handed.

“Instead of pointing fingers and deflecting blame to Ottawa, the premier should be shoulder-tapping the skilled people who work in his own public service who can be redeployed with contact tracing and booking vaccine appointments,” Mowat said.