As students are set to return to school this week, the official opposition in the province is calling on the Government to delay the return.

The NDP wants to delay the return to school by one week in the hopes that it would give the province time to come up with a comprehensive back-to-school plan for school divisions to follow.

Education Critic Carla Beck said once again Saskatchewan alone is not introducing measures.

“We are the only province in the country that has not delayed the return to school. In fact, we’ve put students back to classrooms already with no additional measures, without additional PPE, and seemingly without a plan.”

Beck said the Government is repeating the same mistakes it made with the fourth wave.

“We all want students to be in school, but hoping without a plan is going to land us in the same position that we were in with the fourth wave, and I don’t think that is something anyone wants.”

NDP Leader Ryan Meili said that as other provinces roll out measures and take action against the Omicron variant, Saskatchewan is stuck doing nothing.

“There is a quote that stood out to me as we heard in Ontario, taking more serious actions, the quote from Doug Ford. He said, ‘if we don’t do everything possible to get this variant under control, the results could be catastrophic; it is a risk I cannot take.’ It’s extremely frustrating that Scott Moe has yet to meet a risk he cannot take, has yet to find a time he isn’t willing to gamble on the best-case scenario instead of preparing for the worst and protecting. Saskatchewan people.”

Meili said that Premier Moe could learn from other Premiers.

“We are calling on Scott Moe to take a page out of Doug Ford’s book, take a page out of any other Premiers book and take some action instead of continuing to put his head in the sand and act like it’s not happening. People’s lives rest in the balance; it’s time for him to stop gambling and start leading.”

Meili is expecting over 2,000 cases to be confirmed today in the province’s COVID update.