Private surgery company gave thousands to Sask. Party

Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill speaks during a media scrum after the throne speech in Regina, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

The following story was originally published by the Investigative Journalism Foundation. The reporting was paid for through federal Local Journalism Initiative funding and the story is shared here under a Creative Commons license.

The company picked to expand private surgical services in Saskatchewan gave $5,000 to the province’s governing party, according to financial disclosure documents released last week.

Surgical Centres Inc., a subsidiary of Clearpoint Health Network, currently handles thousands of surgeries completed in Saskatchewan each year. In October, the provincial government expanded its contract with the company to include more complicated orthopedic surgeries and gynecological procedures.

The five-year contract could be extended up to seven years and total $177 million.

Surgical Centres Inc. began performing publicly funded surgeries ­— including cataract procedures, dental extractions and minor orthopedic operations — in private clinics in 2012. Since partnering with the province, Surgical Centres Inc. has given more than $35,500 to the Saskatchewan Party.

Clearpoint Health Network, which bought the Calgary-based Surgical Centres Inc. in late 2022, also donated $5,000 to the party in 2025, according to annual contributions disclosures.

Since 2023, more than 830 patients from Saskatchewan have been referred to a Calgary clinic run by Clearpoint for breast cancer diagnostics.

Saskatchewan NDP MLAs Meara Conway and Jacqueline Roy said in a joint statement that it’s unacceptable that women in Saskatchewan have to travel to Clearpoint’s clinic in Calgary for this “essential care.”

“It’s even more concerning that the clinic that they are being forced to go to is a big-time Sask. Party donor,” the statement said.

“After years of cuts, Saskatchewan families want investments in our public healthcare system, not sweetheart deals for private companies — they need to release the fee schedule.”

Saskatchewan’s government has said that since the out-of-province diagnostic program began in 2023, the number of people waiting for urgent breast biopsies has decreased by more than 87 per cent.

“The Out-of-Province Breast Assessment Program continues to play an important role in ensuring patients receive timely diagnostic care,” Saskatchewan Health Authority interim vice president of clinical and support services Richard Dagenais said in a press release.

Provincial lobbying records show that Clearpoint lobbied Saskatchewan’s Minister of Health Jeremy Cockrill, Minister of Rural and Remote Health Lori Carr and several other ministers and government institutions in 2025.

In its lobbying filing, the company said it is working with the government “to provide surgical services to allow individuals access to publicly funded surgeries that complement the public health-care system.”

Darin Banadyga, a senior strategy advisor for the consulting firm Prairie Sky Strategy, is registered to lobby on behalf of Clearpoint. Banadyga previously held several senior positions with Saskatchewan’s government, including chief of staff to the social services minister and the executive director of the ministry of parks, culture and sport.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is planning a significant increase in the number of surgeries completed in the province, from roughly 100,000 performed last year to 450,000 by the end of 2028. Cockrill has said the province is looking at working with more private contractors to meet surgical and health-care targets.