SaskatchewanThe NDP’s critic for rural and remote health says he plans to introduce a private member’s bill this fall that would require the province to notify the public of all emergency room closures. Government says proposed private member’s bill wouldn’t improve access to careKatie Swyers · CBC News · Posted: Sep 10, 2025 7:58 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours agoJared Clarke, the Saskatchewan NDP’s critic for rural and remote health, says his party has tracked at least 134 emergency room closures, totalling 1,325 days, between December 2024 and the end of April 2025. (Adam Bent/CBC)The NDP’s critic for rural and remote health says he plans to introduce a private member’s bill this fall that would require the province to notify the public of all emergency room closures. Regina Walsh Acres MLA Jared Clarke said that too often, people only learn that their local emergency room is closed when they arrive at the hospital and find locked doors and a closure notice. “We have all heard the stories, people across this province forced to guess whether the local emergency room is going to be open when they need care,” Clarke said. From December 2024 to the end of April 2025, the NDP identified at least 134 emergency room closures totalling 1,325 days — but the Opposition party said in a news release that there are “likely many, many more” as the notifications are often only publicly available through social media channels.”The Saskatchewan Health Authority does not make this information public. Most times people find out through a Facebook post from their municipality,” Clarke said. The SHA said it posts any service disruption lasting longer than seven days on its website and communicates shorter service disruptions through local social media channels and signage posted at facilities. But Clarke said the province used to be more transparent about closures. He alleged that the change is politically motivated. “They are embarrassed. They don’t want the public to be able to see how often these hospital closures are happening and the impact that’s having on health care for rural residents,” he said. Clarke said other health alert systems that use automatic texts and emails exist in the province, such as the one for toxic drug alerts, and a similar system could be put in place for emergency room closure notices. However, he said the province shouldn’t need a piece of legislation to fix the issue of people not knowing if their local emergency room is open or not. “They don’t need my private member’s bill,” said Clarke, “They could fix this now. Our legislation is going to try and force them to do that.” Province respondsIn a statement to CBC News, the province said the proposed bill requiring formal public notification of temporary service disruptions wouldn’t improve access to care. “The proposed legislation does not hire more health-care professionals,” the statement said.The local platforms are an effective way to reach communities quickly, according to the province.Clarke called the proposed legislation a “necessary Band-Aid,” and said the bigger conversation is around how Saskatchewan can recruit and retain more staff to ensure rural hospitals can remain open.ABOUT THE AUTHORKatie Swyers is a reporter with CBC Saskatchewan, based in Regina. She is a 2021 Joan Donaldson Scholar and has previously worked for CBC Podcasts, CBC’s Marketplace, CBC’s network investigative unit, CBC Toronto, CBC Manitoba and as a chase producer for Canada Tonight on CBC News Network. You can reach her at katie.swyers@cbc.ca.
Sask. NDP wants law requiring province to notify public of ER closures
