WEYBURN – Weyburn’s historic Court House will once again get busy, when the Court of King’s Bench reopens, as announced in the Throne Speech in the Legislature recently.
Justice Minister and Attorney-General Bronwyn Eyre will be in Weyburn on Thursday to officially announce the court’s reopening, said Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA and Education Minister Dustin Duncan.
He noted the Queen’s Bench services were cut in 2017. “That was a difficult budget, but we don’t want to be in that position again.”
Since then, the local legal community has been quietly lobbying the government to reinstate the court services, he said, and noted Minister Eyre was able to bring a fresh set of eyes to the situation.
“The number of touch points the community has with the legal system, with cases going to Estevan or Regina, just put more pressure on those centres. The volume of work going through those other judicial centres from Weyburn caused her to relook at the situation,” said Duncan, adding the government is in a better budget position now to consider reopening the court services for Court of King’s Bench.
“I am pleased with the decision, as I have been advocating for the reopening of the Court of King’s Bench since shortly after the decision to reduce services was made,” said Weyburn lawyer Mike Weger. “I’m happy that my concerns were considered and feel that they will be addressed by the reopening of the Court of King’s Bench.”
Also from the Throne Speech, the province will be selling off the 34 liquor retail outlets, including Weyburn’s, with all stores to be sold by the end of March of 2023. There will be an auction of the permits, and he noted that local store employees will be able to bid on those if they wish to.
“The profitability had really changed in the last couple of years, largely because people have more choice,” said Duncan, noting the profitability for this year is projected to be around $500,000, far less than just two years ago.
“We’ll keep the wholesale part of the business,” added Duncan.
He also noted the Throne Speech indicated that construction of Weyburn’s new hospital should be underway by early 2023, and there should be more information about that coming out shortly.
