Two bids have been submitted to develop Blackstrap Provincial Park, but the “very public” idea by one developer to reopen the ski hill at Mount Blackstrap and build a year-round resort is not one of them, said an official with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport.

Kevin Engel, manager of business development and leasing with the Ministry, said he couldn’t go into detail on the two bids they did receive in response to their public request for proposals (RFP) that closed in April because they are still in negotiations. However, he said British Columbia developer Torey Spink did not “put in a proposal” to rebuild the park into a year-round resort with a reopened ski hill, despite his public attempt to gain support for his plan on social media.

“At the end of the day, it is the (Government of Saskatchewan’s) final approval that’s required and they have the right to fully consider and approve the projects before we go public with them,” said Engel. “That’s what we found a little bit strange with Torey Spink deciding to go very public with his interest in reopening the ski hill, but I guess he had his own thoughts on how he wanted to approach this. Unfortunately, he chose not to go forward.”

Engel said the two proposals they received both have local ties to Saskatoon and the Ministry is currently meeting with both groups to negotiate development and lease agreements. He said both developments could be accepted.

“In our RFP we indicated that it was fairly broad and we knew that we might get proposals that would complement each other,” he said. “In this case both would complement (each other), so we’re working going forward with both of them.”

Once negotiations have finished, Engel said the development proposals go to cabinet for approval through an Order in Council due to park’s legislation that requires any development over $250,000 to gain this approval before it can proceed. He said it is not known when this final approval would be given as that is tied to how busy the government is and when they can get on their agenda.

“Neither project had anticipated doing any construction this summer though and both projects still have a lot of work to do as far as finalizing plans and engineering designs. Both would anticipate at the earliest starting some work this fall, so (we’re) not in a situation where we’re holding them up.”

Three Imperial residents were charged last week as a result of an April 26 series of crimes that started in Imperial, moved up Highway 2 to Watrous and ended with police shooting one of the suspects on Highway 16 near Clavet.
Last Thursday, RCMP reported they charged three people in relation to break and enter and thefts that are alleged to have occurred during the morning of April 26 in and around Imperial and then later that morning in Watrous.
At about 2:50 p.m., April 26, RCMP stopped a vehicle on Highway 16 near Clavet that matched a description of a vehicle spotted during the break ins in Watrous. During the traffic stop RCMP shot and injured one of the male suspects.
Derek Marlon Cote, 35, as of last Thursday, was still in hospital after being shot by police. He is remanded in custody and will make his first court appearance once he is discharged from hospital. He is charged with assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, pointing a firearm, possession of firearms obtained by the commission of an offence, possession of firearms while prohibited, possession of property obtained by the commission of an offence and break enter and theft.
Two women, who were in the vehicle, are also facing charges. Erin Tootoosis, 33, and Karen Hillmer, 57, both Imperial residents, have each been charged with possession of stolen property. They will make their first court appearance on June 27 at Provincial Court in Saskatoon.
A second male, whom police arrested during the Hwy. 16 traffic stop, was released from custody with no charges.
Cpl. Rob King said an RCMP investigation is ongoing and has resulted in the recovery of nine stolen guns and numerous personal and household items including electronics and jewellery resulting from the initial traffic stop.
He said RCMP are investigating complaints of three break and enters in Watrous, two break and enter and thefts in Imperial, two more in the Imperial rural area and one attempted break and enter in the Imperial rural area.
The April 26 break ins and thefts and the shooting have shocked the Imperial community, which has a population of about 350 and is the kind of town where everyone knows everybody.
According to townsfolk, the accused have lived in the community for about two years.
RCMP and Regina Police Service continue to investigate the circumstances that lead to the RCMP discharge of a firearm. Regina police are investigating the use of force by the RCMP members and will report the results of their investigation to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General.
No RCMP members were injured in the incident.

On April 15, Davidson standardbred horse trainer Gary Schmiedge walked into Arm River-Watrous MLA Greg Brkich’s constituency office and presented a petition signed by around 30 area people to Brkich’s assistant.

The petition requests the Saskatchewan government reinstate two home market areas in the province, which would enable West Meadows Raceway, the new standardbred horse harness racing track in Regina, to set up teletheatres and telephone account betting to generate revenue. The province had two home market areas prior to 2002 when Queensbury Downs in Regina was still in operation.

Schmiedge said the standardbred horse racing industry in this province would come to an end if the two home market areas were not reinstated. He said the racetrack in Regina couldn’t operate this year without the teletheatre licence change, which affects the pocketbooks of more than just the horse trainers.

“The veterinarians, we’ve been in touch with them and some of them are pretty concerned because they lose a lot of business if the horses leave,” said Schmiedge. “The gas (stations) lose money because it takes a lot of money to go to Yorkton (Cornerstone Raceway) or Regina. Restaurants, it’s a big spin-off for them. Some people come in and stay in Regina overnight, so there are motels.

“There is just no end of people that it involves (including) a lot of students in the summer months or after-school. They go to these tracks and they get jobs grooming and cleaning barns. It gives them some employment. There is no end to what it affects.”

Donna Harpauer, Minister of Crown Investments for the Government of Saskatchewan, said the original decision to go to one home market area was decided through an agreement between Queensbury Downs and Prairieland Park, which runs thoroughbred races only, in 2002. She said the two tracks realized there was not enough telecast betting in the province to keep both tracks viable.

“Queensbury Downs decided to exit that market,” said Harpauer, noting telecast wagering has gone down even further since then. “It wasn’t a big enough market for them to continue and Prairieland then purchased the assets at that time. Since that time there has been one home market area for the province of Saskatchewan and Marquis Downs (at Prairieland Park) has been the holder for that.”

Harpauer said the province-wide teletheatre licence would continue to go to Marquis Downs for the next three years, up from the original one-year agreement, in order to maintain stability for the racetrack and their contributions to the province. She said the thoroughbred raceway has a 500- to 600-horse inventory with approximately 250 Saskatchewan horse owners and 50 trainers who live in the province along with the numerous staff they employ year-round, while the standardbred horses come mainly from out-of-province.

To read more please see the April 29 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson town council has decided to donate $1,500 to the Davidson Golf Course this spring in an effort to help them cover their yearly operating expenses.

Davidson Mayor Clayton Schneider said the decision to help the course is unanimous among council members because they “all feel around the table” that the course is important to the town as a great service for resident’s recreation needs. Council reached this decision last Tuesday after a presentation by two members of the golf course executive at town council’s monthly meeting.

“They are trying to make up the difference for their extra costs, so they’re asking for help and we’d like to help them any way we can,” said Schneider. “This is important to us.”

Cliff Cross, president of the Davidson Golf Course board of executives, said he and golf course board member Ryan Shaw approached the town for funding due to their annual tax bill of $9,600. He said this bill is close to $5,000 more than what they used to pay in taxes thus putting them $5,000 in the hole with operating costs for the course.

This $9,600 bill is split with $3,000 in municipal taxes being paid to the Rural Municipality of Willner and $6,600 paid in annual school tax.

The course was originally facing $10,000 in annual municipal taxes to the RM on top of the school tax due to its classification as a commercial course, but an agreement between the RM and the course last month lowered these costs to the current bill with the course having to find ways themselves to make up the difference.

“We were asked by the (RM of Willner) to see if we could get funds from other existing organizations that use the golf course like other RMs, the town of Davidson and so on,” said Cross. “We got $1,000 from (the RM of McCraney) and now the town has given us $1,500.”

Cross said the course currently holds two fund-raisers during the year, but would try to hold a third one this year to try and make up the difference in expenses. He said as of now that has not been put in place yet.

Schneider said this $1,500 donation to the course is for this year only, but ongoing support “would be definitely looked at” if necessary. He said the town is also prepared to help the golf executives on their fund-raiser plan to try and raise more support for the course.

“It was mentioned (during council meeting) for fund-raising that they want to do some fund-raising,” he said. “The town would be willing to work with them on that.”

The expected above normal spring runoff has raised flooding concerns for reeves of rural municipalities in this area, but they believe their preparations in anticipation of the potential for high runoff will mitigate any disastrous consequences.

“We’re just waiting to see what’s going to happen, but I think we’ve got most of our culverts cleaned out that we can clean out,” said Fred Wilson, Reeve of the RM of Dundurn. “There is not much else we can do. That storm we had two weeks ago really moved the snow pattern around, so we’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen. It put some pretty extreme snowdrifts in some places, but it’s going to take a while for that to melt down. That actually did reduce our flood problems a little bit.”

Wilson said the provincial Water Security Agency (WSA) informed them that they were looking at a “fairly extensive flood” a few weeks ago, but the slow melt that has occurred through April has reduced that concern. He said the bad flood of 2006 also provided the RM with increased measures of reducing flood waters from washing out roads in the municipality.

“We have a fairly extensive watershed that starts northwest of Bladworth and all that water runs up through Dundurn in the springtime,” he said. “It crosses Highway 15 and west of Hanley.”

The flood of 2006 went over Hwy 15 and took out some roads in the Rosedale municipality and backed up an area northwest of Dundurn that normally fills up and drains out towards the river, said Wilson. He said they had some roads that were under water for about six weeks in 2006.

“We have lifted the roads that were flooded out that time another foot and a half, so if (this year’s) the same flood as 2006, we figure we can still handle it.”

The WSA released their April forecast this past week predicting an above normal runoff for the majority of the province with some areas expected to have the potential for a very high runoff and flooding. The rural municipalities of Craik and Big River, which is near the villages of Imperial and Etters Beach, are predicted to have above normal potential runoff this spring.

To read more please see the April 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The Saskatchewan Government’s decision to provide the use of fixed assets on community pastures such as fences, dugouts and cattle handling facilities to patrons at no cost is “very positive,” but the 15-year lease agreement offered by the government makes pasture grassland very expensive for small cattle producers, said the chair of a farmer-run patrons organization.

Ian McCreary, chair of the Community Pasture Patrons Association of Saskatchewan (CPPAS), said the lease fee requirement of patrons plus taxes they must pay varies between 40 and 50 cents a day per cow/calf payer. He said the lease fee requirement is 27 or 28 cents per head plus 13 to 23 cents per head for taxes depending on where the patrons graze their cattle.

“Right now the government is providing that land to the PFRA (Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration) system at no charge and the PFRA system is running those pastures and losing money, significant amounts, and they are expecting the patrons to run those pastures and pay a lease fee of 27 or 28 cents a day and pay the taxes,” said McCreary. “The patron groups are looking at it and saying we’re going to be among the most expensive grass in North America.”

McCreary said small cattle producers must also have staff in the pasture in order to manage the grass appropriately, which further adds to patron’s costs. He said with the addition of this lease agreement patron groups in Saskatchewan are facing “way more expensive” costs for grassland than counterparts in Manitoba and Alberta as well as key grazing states in the United States.

“We need to find a way to get some additional savings,” he said. “Right now, can the pasture (patrons) afford to pay the lease fee? Well, it’s borderline. Every pasture (patron) has to take a look at those numbers, but it’s still more expensive grass. In Manitoba when these pastures got turned over, they turned it over to the patron groups with no lease fee. In Alberta, they turned their community pastures over and they agreed on a lease fee of $1.39 per animal unit a month.

“We need to find a way to get this lease fee lower in order to make the package more attractive.”

Lyle Stewart, Minister of Agriculture for the Government of Saskatchewan, said the 15-year lease term for community pastures was decided upon in discussions with patrons. He said the government originally suggested a five-year lease agreement, but patrons said that would not provide them with enough security, so it was moved up to the current term.

“All the province will get is about 27 cents (a head) and the rest of the costs are other costs (such as) labour, maintaining the fixed assets and so on,” said Stewart. “Those are things that patrons, as good business people, can be creative with.”

Stewart said the decision to provide the fixed assets on community pastures to patrons at no cost also came through these discussions with patrons after the government learned they would be getting these assets from the federal government at no cost.

To read more please see the April 8 print edition of The Davidson Leader.