Premier Scott Moe says there will be a new hospital in Prince Albert. It’s just a matter of going through the assessments first as to whether it would be in a new location or on the present site, or as he calls it “brownfield versus greenfield”.

The annual Sask Party caucus retreat is being held in Prince Albert this week. Moe says the government has removed the local share requirement of 20 per cent for the hospital. Instead it will be funded 100 per cent by the government. Moe says Prince Albert is Saskatchewan’s 3rd largest city, plus the hospital provides healthcare for the region and for Northern Saskatchewan.

The Premier was also asked about the Conflict of Interest Commissioner’s annual report released last week that includes the same 7 recommendations that were in his previous report, with none of them implemented yet. One of them dealt with eliminating the 100-hour threshold that allows in-house lobbyists to avoid registering as lobbyists until they reach that point. The provincial NDP is calling on the government to strengthen its legislation to prevent conflicts of interest and backroom deals.

Moe says they are looking at the report and all indications are they are looking at taking action on a number of those recommendations, and he takes them seriously. The Attorney General is continuing to work on those.