An organization that wants to improve Highway #55 between Nipawin and The Pas, Man., spent 2016 building a case and turning itself into a lobby group funded by its members.
The Gateway Keewatin Corridor Inc., which has a membership that includes communities, First Nations and chambers of commerce, reported on their progress at an annual general meeting in Carrot River June 15.
In terms of building a business case to make the route that’s able to handle primary weights 12 months of the year, Gateway Keewatin hired Praxis Consulting to do a study. The study, released in June 2016, estimated the improvements would generate 12,000 jobs and about $19.3 billion to the GDP over 20 years. For a cheaper upgrade that would be able to handle primary weights 9 months of the year, the benefit would be creating 1,700 jobs and contributing $194.9 million to the GDP over 20 years.
“It was well-received and acknowledged by both provincial governments,” Len Gluska, the Gateway Keewatin’s president, said about the report.
Doug Braybook, who’s with Edgewood, the owner of the sawmill in Carrot River, said his company is restricted by how much it can put on its hauling trucks, something his competitors in Big River and Meadow Lake don’t have to face.
“The highest cost in our sawmill is getting wood to the mill and hauling’s a large position of that cost,” he said. “It costs us, over a three or four year period, millions of dollars in extra cost, by having to haul light loads with our eight-axle logging trucks.”
Wally Quiring, who represented Canadian Kraft Paper Industry, the owner of the paper mill in The Pas, said it was challenging to get wood chips from across the border, because of the quality of the road and the differing standards Saskatchewan and Manitoba have. During the spring thaw, the company has to do a six-hour detour to get its chips from Saskatchewan, where it gets one-third of the product.
Blair Wager, the assistant deputy minister responsible for planning and policy for the Saskatchewan highways ministry, said the province has fiscal constraints and 26,000 kilometres of provincial highway to tend to.
“You don’t have to convince us in the province the importance of the corridor. Our challenge, of course, is the pace we’re able to do some of this stuff in a financially sustainable way.”
He said the province has focused on improving bridges on Highway #55. The highway has also seen some improvements, most of which were in the west.
Gateway Keewatin has also created a constitution and is now charging its members fees to pay for lobbying efforts to the two provincial governments.
Gluska said over 2017, Gateway Keewatin plans to co-ordinate a joint, face-to-face meeting with the Manitoba and Saskatchewan highway ministers; hold public open houses with chamber of commerce, boards of trade and economic development offices; co-ordinate meetings between the two province’s bureaucrats; and commission a study that measures the cost of delaying improvements to the highway.
“There’s a motto that we’re going to have to adopt: failure is not an option.”
