NDP MLA Deb Higgins attended the Uranium Public Consultation in Swift Current on June 3 and feels those in attendance were not able to get the details they needed because of the lack of expertise available to answer legitimate question.
Higgins, who has attended a series of the public consultation meetings which wrap up with stops in Saskatoon tonight and LaRonge on Tuesday, admits she is disappointed that there are not experts in nuclear energy present at the consultation meetings as was supposed to be the case when the meetings were first announced.
"I am a little disappointed because when the minister responsible actually announced these meetings would be held the commitment was there would be experts available to answer questions. That has been a bit of a disappointment because people are leaving with a bit of frustration I think. A bit of relief that they have expressed their viewpoints but no questions being answered and that is frustrating,"
Higgins wonders if the government is maybe rushing the decision on uranium development while giving a less important topic a lot of time to be decided upon.
"Here we are spending 10 days of meetings travelling around the province with no technical information, no overall plan being laid out. So in 10 days we are supposed to come to some kind of decision or some consensus on this huge issue that could have lasting implications for the province of Saskatchewan... in 10 days but we are having a referendum on daylight savings time in 2011 so I think we need to look at the priorities and step back and maybe put a bit more effort in to this so people can have a whole understanding."
