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Sask. Party proposes new labour act

The Saskatchewan Government introduced a comprehensive new labour act in the legislature Dec. 4, claiming it as an attempt to create greater transparency among unions, develop a formula for setting the rate of minimum wage and help employers and employees find the needed information they may be looking for.

Don Morgan, Saskatchewan Minister of Labour, said the new Saskatchewan Employment Act, which is expected to be passed by the May long-weekend when the provincial house rises for the summer months, would combine 12 present pieces of labour legislation into one bill. He said the act was devised through recommendations from government officials and 3,800 written submissions from the public over 90 days last summer after the government first proposed the new act last March.

Morgan said the new act succeeds in making the laws more readable for anyone looking to find information on labour laws, plus it allows the government to streamline remedies and appeals processes under various parts of the legislation. He said the public now has another 90 days to respond with concerns or recommendations on specific bills that are to be affected and the government will respond in kind.

“We posted everything on our website and in addition to the bill itself there is a (side note) that indicates what the significant changes would be, so the information is available now,” said Morgan. “We’ve also asked the public to give us their comments on it and if there are things that we have missed or could have some unintended consequences we would make whatever house amendments that are necessary before the bill passes in the spring session.”

A few of the main proposals of the new act would include regulations permitting, with consent from employer and employee, four ten-hour work days instead of the normal five eight-hour days, an ability for employers to pay wages by other means such as prepaid cards, higher fines and degree of accountability on employers to ensure that their workers are safe at all times and an indexing of the minimum wage to the annual change in average wage and the Consumer Price Index.

“I can’t imagine ever lowering (minimum wage),” said Morgan. “We could have lowered it before if there was a good reason and never did. I think that would be one of the worst things you could do to low-income people. The reason we have the process that’s there (in the new act) is it will be a blend of Consumer Price Index and average hourly wage. If they went down then it would come to cabinet before there was automatically a reduction, but I can’t see cabinet ever wanting to do that.

“We’ve raised it significantly since we’ve been in government. We’ve raised it well over 25 per cent and want to continue to make sure we’re midway or in the top half of the rest of the provinces and want to make sure we’re able to attract workers into the province.”

To read more please see the December 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

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Massive new wholesale outlet planned for Dundurn to change “scope” of town

The Rural Municipality and Town of Dundurn has agreed with plans from real estate company Brightenview Development International Inc. for building a massive wholesale outlet just north of the town.

Fred Wilson, Reeve of the RM of Dundurn, said the 155-acre centre that would house 350 Chinese businesses is “not for sure yet,” but the town and RM are helping the company facilitate the process of getting the project underway. He said the project, called the “Dundurn International Exhibition Centre,” would vastly change the “scope” of the community once construction is completed sometime in late 2014.

“It is (massive) and that is the part that is going to change Dundurn the most if we’re looking at upwards to 1,000 jobs being employed at the site,” said Wilson. “The development of housing and just the extra traffic within the community is going to make quite a difference.”

The centre would be located half a mile north of Highway 211 and Highway 11 intersection at Dundurn on the east side of the highway. The developer has already purchased the land from a private owner and construction is slated to begin in spring 2013 lasting for 18 months.

“The developer viewed different sites and Dundurn has a fairly good water and sewer system that they just spent $30 million revamping and constructing, so it was available,” said Wilson about why Dundurn with a population of 650 was picked for the project. “The four-lane highway was definitely an asset and it’s still fairly close to the City of Saskatoon for air travel and transportation.

“We’ve got a lot of residential properties in the municipality that are available for occupancy and as far as financial obligations we haven’t been asked for anything.”

To read more please see the December 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Aztecs dunk Raiders senior girls

The Davison Raiders senior girls basketball team suffered a lop-sided loss to the Loreburn Aztecs in their season opener at the Davidson School gym last Wednesday.

The Aztecs dominated on both sides of the floor cruising to a 59-17 victory over the Raiders. The Loreburn girls played stifling man-to-man coverage barely letting the Raiders get to the net throughout the match and easily penetrated through the Raiders defence getting into the paint and hitting numerous easy lay-ups during the game after breaking past one Raider after another.

“Our girls played well,” said Aztecs head coach Tim Hom. “I think after getting used to the new gym they did pretty good.”

The Aztecs and Raiders both started off slowly in the game, with the first quarter mainly seeing the teams feeling each other out. Loreburn stepped up the pace in the second quarter, scoring at will on their way to taking a 29-9 lead by the half. The second half was more of the same with the Aztecs leading 44-13 after three and finally 59-17 to finish.

Karielle Willner, head coach of the Raiders, said their first game of the season was a good learning experience for the girls, giving them a look on what they need to work on to reach their goal of having a successful season.

“I really just want to see every girl play to her best, to improve and for us to get as far as we possibly can,” she said. “A lot of teams, their goal is to win in senior and ours is to get as many girls playing as possible and that doesn’t always necessarily lead to a win every time. All girls who want to play play, so that is the rule we live and die by.”

To read more please see the December 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

 

Sports

Dieno called up to Rebels after Canada tourney

It may have been Jordan Eberle night at the Regina Pats-Red Deer Rebels game Dec. 5, but it was Rhyse Dieno who stole the show.

The right winger took first star honours in the Western Hockey League game scoring two goals and adding two assists on the night the Pats retired the No. 7 jersey worn by Eberle during his 2006 to 2010 stint with the club.

“It was a pretty good game,” said Dieno, the grandson of Davidson’s Terry and Carol Dieno. “It was cool to see Eberle’s jersey being hung up, so the boys were pretty excited about that and we were coming off a seven game winning streak. We were trying to build off that and the points just started coming to me, so it was nice.”

The Rebels 5-1 win against the Pats made it eight in a row for the Brent Sutter managed and coached club, which also marks the same amount of games Dieno has suited up on the top line for the team. Playing on a line with Turner Elson and Brooks Maxwell, Dieno has managed 11 points including four goals.

“My coach has put a lot of confidence in me,” said the 19-year-old winger. “It’s a little different than what I had last year (with the Medicine Hat Tigers), so it’s nice. He trusts me in situations to put the puck in the net and I’m just building off that and I have a lot of confidence.”

The quick-skating two-way forward got the call up to the WHL while trying out for Team Canada West in Calgary for the 2012 World Junior A Challenge. Dieno made the team and helped them take home a silver medal in the Nov. 5-11 tournament held in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in which he recorded five points playing on a line with Alex Kerfoot and Dylan Richard.

“It was an unreal experience,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I would love to do it over again, but I’m a little too old for that now. It was a great experience.”

The turnaround for Dieno turned out to be “pretty quick” as he had to fly back to Saskatchewan from Yarmouth and head straight to La Ronge, where he had spent the earlier part of the season playing for the Saskatchewan Junior A Hockey League’s Ice Wolves. Dieno packed up his stuff, said goodbye to his teammates and coach and hit the road to Red Deer. Less than a week later he suited up for his first game with the Rebels scoring the tying goal in 2-1 home win over the Swift Current Broncos.

“If I keep playing like I am right now I plan to play here the whole year and maybe even as a 20-year-old.”

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Farmers propose new wheat and barley commissions

A new Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (SWDC) and Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission (SBDC) have been proposed in order to give the province’s wheat and barley producers a greater voice in their industry.

The SWDC and SBDC will be a producer elected and directed organization with a mandate to ensure farmers have resources, leadership as well as provincial, national and international representation to protect Saskatchewan wheat and barley producers’ interests.

A steering committee has been formed for each proposed commission under the direction of the provincial government to survey producers to determine their acceptance of the proposed commission’s views on market access, railroads, varieties research and agronomic practices.

Gerrid Gust, Davidson farmer and wheat steering committee member, said the commission is a response to the ending of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) monopoly last August. He said the end of the CWB provided “greater access to markets” for farmers and gave them a chance to make decisions based on their own cash flow and farms without having a centrally managed economy demanded by the board.

“A lot of this stuff farmers have been paying for for years,” said Gust. “We think as an industry that farmers would be interested to fill some of those gaps left over from the wheat board, roles that this had filled, and have a voice for Saskatchewan producers and farmers.”

Gust said the idea of the commissions was proposed at a June 22 meeting in Regina where the industry, including major commodity farm groups, as well as APAS (Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan) and SARM (Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities), sat down to decide the best future direction of wheat and barley producers.

The steering committees are now completing establishment plans for the proposed commissions and if approved by the provincial government will begin operating on Aug. 1, 2013, with an interim board of directors.

To read more please see the December 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

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Grants add $13,000 to Davidson’s coffers

The Town of Davidson is over $13,000 richer thanks to a couple provincial grants that have recently come into its coffers.

Trevor Ouellette, Davidson recreation director, said the first grant for $10,000 would be put towards the costs associated with upgrading the electrical system at Town Hall as well as installing a rooftop heating and cooling unit for the town community centre. He said the second grant for $3,450 would be split between helping purchase uniforms for the Davidson School Raiders junior and senior football teams and also for the implementation of an after-school grassroots youth soccer program to begin play next fall.

Ouellette said the first grant, received last week through the CIF (Community Initiatives Fund-community vitality program), is “great” because it can be stacked on top of another grant. The $10,000 will be added to the recent $29,875 in funding the town was approved for last month by the CIIF (Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund) for the installation of the air-conditioning unit.

“Originally planning to be a $60,000 project that was basically taxpayers’ money, we now have taken it down to $20,000, so we have raised $40,000 through grants,” said Ouellette. “It is now a more feasible project to do instead of a wish list project. It is now a third of the dollars. The town is really excited about moving forward on the project.”

The $60,000 project is broken down into two phases. The first phase, to be completed between July 30, 2012, and March 31, 2013, will involve wiring improvements to the Town Hall. The second phase will see the installation of an air-conditioner for the community centre, to be completed between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014.

Ouellette said the second grant for $3,450, delivered through the Saskatchewan In Motion community subsidy program, is geared towards making programs more accessible that promote an active lifestyle. He said the money received could be used for new programming or for minor equipment purchases.

“What I’ve been able to do is fully fund a program that will be implemented next fall and it is geared towards young children aged five to 11 as a target group,” he said. “It’ll be youth soccer. I have a grassroots program that I’ve used in other towns and it’s just designed to get the kids active in a non-competitive environment. There will be no scoreboards and no score sheets. It is to get out there and have fun.”

To read more please see the December 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The Davidson Leader, Davidson, Saskatchewan