The NDP is growing impatient waiting for the Wall government to announce its response to last summer’s wildfire crisis.
The government’s “Lessons Learned” exercise was not the independent review the Opposition was calling for — but the Premier has said any changes to forest fire fighting policy will be made in advance of the coming fire season.
NDP leader Cam Broten wants to see a lot of changes — including to the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program.
“I think it’s also important to review the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program,” he says. “We know in Manitoba, for example, assistance is provided to cover trappers’ cabins. And that’s an important step that we should be looking at, as well.”
The Opposition is also calling for changes to the “Let It Burn” policy, improved communications with northern communities and more northerners trained in advance of fire seasons.
“I spoke to some northern leaders who say once upon a time there were 2,000 firefighters who were trained and ready to fight the fires,” he says. “And that number is much, much smaller now.”
As for the timing of when any changes could be implemented or announced, Environment Minister Herb Cox admits it’s possible it happens after the upcoming provincial election.
“I don’t know when that’s going to be announced,” he says. “I guess there is a chance, but there’s a chance it could be before, too. So I just can’t be pinned down on that date because we haven’t completed that review. We just started it because the last consultation was just finished two weeks ago.”
Cox says it was a big task and very important that the government got it done — but he says it’s equally as important that they take their time to do it right and make sure they go through the review very thoroughly.
“I haven’t seen the scope or the amount of material that we have compiled from our consultations,” he says. “So that’s really, really difficult for me to pin that down to whether it will be a month, two months, three months. I can’t say that.”
Voters go to the polls on April 4. The official start of fire season in Saskatchewan is April 1.