MOOSOMIN — Progress on the care home in Grenfell and the hospital in Esterhazy were discussed with Tim McLeod, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Seniors and Rural and Remote Health, at the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce meeting Tuesday.
Progress on the care home in Grenfell continues to be paused, pushing the 2025 project completion deadline one more year. Grenfell has been without a long-term care home since 2018 when mold forced the closure of the existing facility plus relocation of around 20 people until a new home could be built. Excitement abounded last October when smiling faces posed for news cameras at the official sod-turning ceremony, but the project had to be retendered.
“The contract was re-tendered,” McLeod confirmed. “It was originally awarded, and then there were some concerns about not just cost overruns, but about the delivery of the project as an entirety. I’m hopeful that we’ll have further announcements to make in that regard in the weeks and months ahead.”
As for the new hospital promised to Esterhazy, McLeod says, “We’re working on it.”
“We have several capital projects going on across the province, as you’re aware, and the Esterhazy hospital is certainly one of those,” he told the World-Spectator. “It’s in the queue as we work through the many capital investments that we’re making across the province, particularly in long-term care and health care.”
He explained that part of the delay in projects happens in the behind-the-scenes work; things the general public simply isn’t privy to along the way.
“There’s a process that happens from the time that we make an announcement, working through Sask Builds, through the procurement, through the design phase,” McLeod said. “There’s got to be assessments done and that sort of thing, and that all takes time. I know from the public’s perspective that can be frustrating, but in order to be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money and make sure that the projects go ahead as planned and we get the product that ultimately the communities need, we have to follow that process. Unfortunately, it does take some time.”
