ELECTION COVERAGE

Provincial election season begins

Parties begin wooing voters in Newfoundland, NWT and Saskatchewan

By John Stobo

Fall is election season in Canada this year. Alongside Ontario's October 10 contest, three other elections are approaching.

Newfoundland and Labrador
Voters will head to the polls October 9 in Newfoundland and Labrador. An August poll suggested rabble-rousing Premier Danny Williams' Progressive Conservatives (PCs) hold an impressive lead with 76% support among decided voters.

That, despite the fact that their handling of health issues — especially the botched breast cancer test fiasco — has been less than stellar, critics charge. It remains to be seen if voters will be satisfied with the government's call for a judicial inquiry and replacement of the health authority chief. It's likely that issues such as offshore oil development and resource control will figure bigger in the election.

The Liberal opposition has been hounding the Williams government to promise retention bonuses to lure and keep health professionals on the Rock, even if only as a short-term solution to the problem.

In the run up to the election, the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association has been lobbying for improved access and shorter wait times, care for senior citizens, and child safety.

Saskatchewan
The official date has yet to be announced, but you wouldn't know it from the election campaigning already underway in Saskatchewan. Under an amended Elections Act, more party expenses are eligible for government reimbursement, and the campaign ads have rolled out quickly.

The ruling NDP's ads cast the Saskatchewan Party (SP) as wolves in sheeps' clothing, suggesting that the SP stands for private, two-tier health care, while they pretend they don't. The SP's official policy includes a mandate to provide a public health system in accordance with the Canada Health Act.

Brad Wall's SP has accused the government of doing too little to attract health professionals, and announced his party would match the NDP's healthcare budget by promising $275 million over four years to fill 600 registered nurse vacancies, and raise them 300 new spaces to train nurses, and 60 new physician residency positions. Other announced plans include incentives to recruit foreign and expatriate physicians. NDP health minister Len Taylor has suggested that the SP doesn't realize how difficult the task of recruiting can be, and it's only compounded by the expected mass retirement of nurses.

Last week, the government released a progress report on what they have done to meet commitments made in the 2004 health accord, claiming steady wait time reductions.

In perhaps the strangest Canadian election campaign news in years, the SP has accused the NDP of using subliminal suggestions in their ads that the SP supports pornography. Although the campaign is just beginning, the gloves, it seems, are already off.

Northwest Territories
When voters in the Northwest Territories cast their ballots October 1, one familiar name won't be on the ticket: Health Minister Floyd Roland. Not because he's leaving politics, but because Mr Roland — along with two of his fellow candidates — is running uncontested and has already been acclaimed the winner in his districts. Mr Roland also won without a fight in the 2003 election, as was the current premier, Joe Handley, who won't be running this time around.

Physician recruitment and retention remain big issues in the territory and are sure to make appearances in the campaign. Substance abuse and a worryingly high suicide rate are also on the radar. Mr Roland's work on substance abuse includes a recent three-year agreement signed earlier this year between the NWT government and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse on a strategy to address alcohol and drug use in the territory.

Mr Roland also struck a deal with Canada Health Infoway and Alberta Health and Wellness earlier this year to implement an electronic health records (EHR) network linking clinics and hospitals across the NWT and Alberta.

Canada's interest in enforcing its sovereignty over the North could bring some bounty for NWT, Premier Handley has predicted. That should include ensuring safe drinking water and sewage systems and, depending on who wins the election, could improve health services as well.