Estevan MLA Lori Carr, who is also the minister responsible for Government Relations and other cabinet posts, made an appearance at Monday night’s meeting of Estevan city council.
Council members took turns asking questions about issues facing the city and the province.
Councillor Trevor Knibbs wanted to know if there would be any new natural gas plants planned, since such facilities have been constructed elsewhere in the province, and whether Estevan would be getting one at Boundary Dam, since the infrastructure is already there.Carr noted the Chinese have started to pick up on carbon capture technolgies and North Dakota is also interested.
Decisions on the future of the Shand Power Station and Unit 6 at the Boundary Dam Power Station won’t happen for a few years.
Knibbs also voiced concern with the speculation that the provincial government might turn to Manitoba Hydro for power production, taking jobs out of the province.
Councillor Travis Frank invited Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskPower, to join Carr and speak before council in the future.
“I’m sure he can’t tell us anything more than he has, but I think we owe it to the citizens as much we can about the power situations,” said Frank.
Councillor Shelly Veroba wanted to know what was happening with physician recruitment and retention in the community and elsewhere in the province.
Carr responded by saying that the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) program is one that the province relies on heavily for physician recruitment.
“Those doctors are their own bosses, and they have the ability to locate where they are,” said Carr.
Many who have come here have decided they want to move on, in many cases to much larger centres.
Councillor Dennis Moore wondered if the government has discussed repealing taxes that it imposed in the past few years, most notably the tax on labour.
“The people that are doing the work are taking cash, because that’s what you’ve created,” said Moore. “It’s not a fair playing field with the other provinces coming in that we have to pay taxes on labour.”
Moore believes the province isn’t getting its fair share, and he doubts the province is getting as much as they had before.
“The income, we had to get it from somewhere,” responded Carr. “Unfortunately, we had to increase the taxes in some places. So we had a plan to get to balanced (budgets) in three years. This is the last year of that plan, and I believe you will see us come out with a balanced budget.”
Carr said the government is collecting more than it had been before.
When it was his turn, Councillor Lyle Yanish wanted to know what is happening with the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home. It’s now been five years since the new nursing home committee reached its fundraising goal of $8 million, which is 20 per cent of the estimated cost.
“Right now we have some RFPs (requests for proposals) for a couple of buildings that are being replaced, and these are buildings that have been condemned. They can’t be in them any longer.”
She pointed out that Councillor Greg Hoffort and new nursing home committee chair Don Kindopp have been coming forward with some good ideas, but there isn’t anything pending on a new nursing home.
“I’m really confident that with some outside the box thinking, which has been happening, we can move forward with something,” said Carr.
Mayor Roy Ludwig once again brought forward council’s concerns with the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency. He believes that what the agency does isn’t working, and he pointed out council will bring forward their concerns at the upcoming convention for the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association.
