He came to Estevan in full campaign mode on Monday. He may not have come prepared to walk across Rafferty Dam, but he did come with a promise that a newly elected NDP government would immediately begin work on twinning Highway 39 from Estevan to Weyburn and Highway 6 south of Regina.
Dwain Lingenfelter, leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, was in Estevan Monday afternoon for a meet-and-greet social in the Jubilee Room at the Legion Hall. He was joined by the party's Estevan Constituency candidate, Blair Schoenfeld.
Twinning Highway 39 simply makes sense, he told the media and local representatives from the Time to Twin committee who had gathered to question him prior to the social event.
"You're not saving money by not twinning it. By far this makes the largest economic argument," Lingenfelter told the gathering.
"The toughest part of any project like this is making the decision and getting started. Once that is done, then the rest follows," Lingenfelter said.
"Regina south and Estevan north are the two largest traffic areas, so you begin twinning there and then close the gap."
Asked by the Time to Twin chairwoman, Marge Young, if the twinning could be completed in three years, Lingenfelter said he could not commit to that time frame since the timeline would be determined by the engineering and planning as well as contractor availability during each construction season.
"All the other twinning projects have been done over time," he said. "Highway 39 is the highest priority we have because of the economy around here. You people are paying for the province's health care, education and highway systems."
Lingenfelter said he was surprised to see a portion of Highway 39 near Macoun still under water, one month after the fierce rains and flood conditions struck southeastern Saskatchewan.
"I guess the government can't figure out a way to get rid of it. I would think it would be crucial to get something done before it deteriorates. I think most people in the province would be amazed that this main highway is still under some water," he added.
When asked to comment on Lingenfelter's promise and comments, Young, along with fellow committee member Lorlei Cundall said they were reserving their main comments for the time being. They said that it was their full intention not to make the highway twinning a partisan political issue, but rather one that all the parties are aware of and secondly, they chose to keep a lower profile during a difficult period when people have more serious issues to deal with such as flooded homes and ruined crops. But, they promised, they would bring the topic up again and again and make it a front-and-centre issue for both parties heading into this fall's provincial general election.
"Both of these two major parties had lots of time to make the decision and make the announcement about this project and both decided to do nothing so far," said Cundall.
"So we're just holding back for now, but we were interested in what Mr. Lingenfelter had to say and we all heard him. It's easy to make the promises, it's the follow-up that can be difficult," said Young.
As for the Rafferty reference, Lingenfelter gained some local notoriety when the dam was being built while he was on the opposition's side in the Legislature during the Grant Devine Conservative Party's era of governance. Lingenfelter had joined a line of critics who were claiming that Rafferty Dam was a waste of taxpayer money, that it would never be filled and he would probably be able to walk across the dam's reservoir floor years after it was completed.
