NDP promises new surgical centre for southern Sask.

Saskatchewan NDP leader Ryan Meilihas promised a new surgical centre for southern Saskatchewan.

Meili estimates the project will cost $60 million.

Meili said he plans to fund this and other projects with a wealth tax a one per cent tax on families in the province witha net wealth of $15 million and by "stimulating the economy" by making investments rather than opting for austerity.

The new surgicalcentre wouldinclude services like surgery, outpatient cancer care and diagnostic imaging, he said.

"[Scott Moe] wants us to believe we have no choice. But Saskatchewan people are not satisfied and neither am I. We don't have to accept more of the same," Meili said at a news conference Wednesday.

"These investments not only mean that people won't be sitting on long waitlists in pain, wondering when they'll get the care they need. Building a new surgery centre will create new jobs and help stimulate the local economy."

Meili also vowed to build the centre using Saskatachewan companies.

In 2012, the Sask. Party had plans for a centre similar to this one. but it was never built.

"Heck, maybe we'll call it the Brad Wall Surgical Centre," Meili mused Wednesday.

Meili hadDonna Smith, a woman who has been waiting for surgery since June 2019, with him at the event. Smith said waiting this long for surgery has negatively impacted her life.

"I also live in chronic pain, using medication I worry will havelonger term effects such as stomach issues or kidney damage," she said.

"The longer people wait, the more they suffer, the more outcomes can be worse."