ESTEVAN - Lori Carr attended the latest meeting of Estevan city council to answer questions councillors had for the provincial government.
Several inquires were related to the healthcare system in general, with issues surrounding the pandemic in particular.
Councillor Tony Sernick asked if it was plausible that the flu and common cold are being lumped into COVID numbers through the PCR tests.
"My answer to that would be I'm not a doctor, so I can't guess. I have confidence that they are accounting for the different variants accordingly," Carr responded.
Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig, who was unable to attend, forwarded his comments and thanked the provincial government for taking charge and making the decision on vaccinations instead of leaving it up to municipalities.
Councillor Kirsten Walliser pointed out that she hears that a lot of people "have lost faith in the government" after the approach to containing the pandemic in the province has quickly changed, and there are people and businesses that are not willing to adhere to new regulations.
"There are businesses that have already publicly stated that they will not be checking vaccination status before admitting people to their businesses. And I'm just curious how the government is going to try and bring everyone back, get everybody on board and finish up demand," Walliser asked.
Carr explained that the government goes with the recommendations from the chief medical health officer, which are based on the number of hospitalizations and people in intensive care units. As those numbers rise, the new recommendations come into place.
"I think most people, most businesses will do the right thing. It is a very divisive thing and … whether you're vaccinated or unvaccinated, it's still your choice. It's just, unfortunately, now some things you'll have to wait to do until all restrictions are lifted," Carr said.
On the same topic, Councillor Shelly Veroba pointed out that she hears that Saskatchewan's healthcare system has reached a point where they will have to make hard decisions on who lives and who dies, and was wondering if the situation is indeed that bad.
"From the information that I've seen, I don't think we're there yet. I think that there is enough room in the system to be able to hopefully handle some of the influxes coming in. We have just started this week to slow down the rest of the healthcare system, all of the elective procedures and all of that kind of stuff. And what that will do is it will make room in the system if we get more of those COVID patients coming in. So no, we're not there yet in Saskatchewan," Carr responded.
She added that the province has the equipment for field hospitals, and those can be brought back if needed.
Veroba also brought up an issue with physician and psychiatrist recruitment and inquired if there was any progress with attracting new specialists to the area.
Carr pointed out that they are focusing on adding extra beds in the mental health and addictions sector but agreed that they are behind in recruitment and retainment.
"Something that we're focusing on is the mental health and addictions piece for treatment. But you make the point that we don't have enough psychologists around, and we don't. We've had a really hard time recruiting in this area, and I don't know for what reasons or why they don't want to stay here. But unfortunately, doctors are businessmen of their own, and they get the opportunity to move wherever they want," Carr said.
On another note, councillor Travis Frank asked if there were any news coming Estevan's way with the recent provincial announcement of the support for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). Carr explained that the announcement was aimed at helping to enable companies to access funding and financial incentives.
"Enhanced oil recovery is really what we're talking about within that portfolio. Of course, they have to get the carbon from somewhere. And in the vicinity of this area, the closest things we have are our carbon capture plant that we have right now. And as you're fully aware, they're using all of the carbon that comes out of there right now, but they can always use more. So it still comes down to the capital investments," said Carr.
Councillor Rebecca Foord asked to give some details on the $75,000 funding the provincial government committed to for Kids Help Line over the next three years.
"It's a program that is really valuable for the youth that we have around. So the $75,000 truly will be put into staffing and more telephone lines. So that when those kids call in there are more people available, and expanding the hours a little bit," Carr responded.
Foord also inquired if there were any texting options available, as that might be more useful for youths. Carr said she'll take this idea forward and ask.
Councillor Sernick also asked if anything could be done to have Perkins Street fall under provincial budgeting as a truck route.
"I don't know if there's an opportunity to the Urban Connector Highway Program; if you decide you want to upgrade it so that it can handle heavier weights, that would probably be the best option … That's cost-sharing between the municipality and the provincial government to upgrade roads that are used to connect highways," Carr said.
Ward added they reached out to the provincial government, but their application was denied.
On the topic of highways, Veroba also asked about plans for parts of Highway 47.
"Estevan has actually been pretty fortunate over the past few years with the paving projects that have happened within my constituency. I've got two left, Highway 18 west of Estevan out to Outram, and Highway 47 north to Benson ... It's something that I'm continually advocating for,” said Carr.
Councillor Lindsay Clark, who is the deputy mayor and chaired the meeting, noted that the city is getting a lot of positive feedback on the pathway project underway in Estevan, which he passed on to Carr, as the provincial government is a partner on this project.
"The walking paths really was a great project to be able to move forward with. It's one of those things that city would really, really like to do, but it's a little expensive to do on your own. So when you have the opportunity to partner with different levels of government, it's actually you're able to make it happen. So I'm glad if they look really good, what sounds good so far, it's really exciting. Nice to see that the work is going to be done this fall," Carr said.
Clark also inquired about the next steps for the new Estevan Regional Nursing Home. Carr noted that the money allocated in the provincial budget is for planning, and the meeting for that is scheduled for October.
