ESTEVAN - Members of Estevan city council had their opportunity to address issues facing the area with Estevan MLA Lori Carr during Monday night’s meeting.
Carr, who was a member of city council from 2003-2009 and again from 2012-2016, answered questions from council members.
Councillor Lindsay Clark jumped in right away, addressing what he called “the elephant in the room” and wondering what was happening with Estevan’s new nursing home.
Carr replied that the provincial government has committed money in the last two budgets for the building.
“For the community, it seemed like so much longer, because we got our ducks in a row, we raised our money, we were very successful early on, so it just makes it so much longer,” said Carr.
Right now work is happening on a needs assessment for what will be needed for the facility, the services that will be provided and the number of beds.
“All of that work is being done, and hopefully that will be done in the next couple of months, and then we move forward with the planning and the RFP (request for proposals) process. It’s going to take a little while yet, but it’s definitely moving forward, and you will see a new nursing home here.”
The Hearthstone Community Campaign raised more than $8 million, or the required 20 per cent of the new nursing home’s projected $40 million cost, from 2011-2015. Donations continued to come in after 2015. The provincial government committed money to the new nursing home for the first time in the spring of 2021.
Councillor Shelly Veroba noted that earlier this year, the city sent a letter to the provincial government, seeking assistance for such services as police, fire and even ambulance. She then pointed out the city didn’t get a positive response, and she wanted to know if anything was coming.
Veroba believes everyone should get some support, as people are facing mounting costs for travelling and going to work, and it costs money to get goods and services to the community.
“Is there anything the provincial government can start thinking about, helping residents?”
Carr pointed out the provincial government just gave $20 million to assist school divisions with surging fuel costs. The provincial government is looking at ways to help out individuals facing rising costs from inflation.
Councillor Rebecca Foord asked about the labour shortage and how people from Ukraine who are coming to Canada can help remedy the situation. She wanted to know if the provincial government is giving an incentive for Ukrainian people to come to Saskatchewan and start working.
A flight with people from Ukraine landed in Saskatchewan a few weeks ago, which Carr said the provincial government organized with a private company. She also noted the Saskatchewan-Ukrainian Council is working with communities and employers who want these individuals.
“We’re going to try to make it as easy as we can for these individuals, once they get here. Obviously, hopefully, they stay, but we do realize some of them are just here for the short term,” she said.
Carr also suggested if Saskatchewan had control over immigration, like Quebec, it could go out and more aggressively bring individuals to Saskatchewan.
Councillor Kirsten Walliser noted there have also been challenges facing health-care and social services.
“We’re really finding in this corner of the province that those who are uniquely positioned to help vulnerable people most in need, those positions are vacant, and we’re really struggling.”
Veroba pointed out that the labour shortages facing health care are not just an Estevan problem, they are a Saskatchewan and a Canada challenge. Carr noted the provincial government announced in the budget the creation of a stand-alone agency specifically for recruitment of healthcare professionals, ranging from doctors to nurses to care aids.
Energy needs were also discussed at the meeting. Mayor Roy Ludwig noted that the federal government wants to see coal-fired generation shut down in 2030.
“Between Coronach and Estevan, we’re looking at over 1,000 megawatts. How do you make that up? I know incrementally, we’re seeing green energy being built within the province, but nothing that would help to shoulder the burden of that kind of loss in the province.”
Ludwig suggested having a meeting with SaskPower to discuss how the province can further help the city. He’d like to see the federal government at the table, too, but he said the feds won’t answer the city’s emails.
Carr noted SaskPower Minister Don Morgan wants to come to Estevan to see the carbon capture and storage facility and she believes it would be good to have the new SaskPower president Rupen Pandya here, too.
Estevan is getting 100 megawatts of solar power, but she stressed that for every megawatt of green energy, they have to have baseload power to supplement wind and solar on the days in which renewables aren’t working.
“We have the transmission (lines) here, we have the workers here, we have the knowledge, so it totally makes sense that all of it is here,” said Carr.
