All posts by Tara de Ryk

Davidson

MP opposes changes to federal riding

The new federal electoral map proposed last week by the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Saskatchewan has drawn the ire of a local MP.

Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre Member of Parliament Tom Lukiwski said the new map creates an “us versus them mentality” between constituents in urban and rural ridings, not to mention increasing the size of the rural districts to such a point that it will reduce the effectiveness of a MP to be responsible for their whole area of coverage.

“The best way to have representation, effective representation in Saskatchewan, is to have members of parliament to have both portions of urban and rural in their ridings where possible, because the economy of Saskatchewan is so intertwined in the rural and urban centres,” said Lukiwski, Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader.

“It just makes sense to have MPs who are totally conversant and knowledgeable about issues in both the urban and rural portions of the province.”

The proposed electoral map up for consideration at public hearings this fall is set to establish two exclusively urban electoral districts in Regina and three in Saskatoon. The remaining nine ridings will remain primarily rural, including Lukiwski’s.

The difference is Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre would almost double in size taking over the majority of the Blackstrap riding currently held by Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, as well as an area around and including Moose Jaw, currently named as the Palliser riding and held by Ray Boughen.

“Constituents want to personally meet with Members of Parliament,” said Lukiwski. “They want members to attend certain events in their home communities and by increasing the size of the rural riding by such a dramatic amount, it really would reduce the amount MPs could spend in all the areas of their riding.”

Under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, every 10 years in Canada since Confederation, an electoral boundaries commission is set up in each province to redraw electoral districts according to population shifts. This is done after each census is completed, the last being in 2011, which noted Saskatchewan’s population has increased from 978,933 to 1,033,381 over the last decade.

John Courtney, a member of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Saskatchewan, said the new electoral map was proposed due to the change in population densities in areas within the province. He said communities of interest, historical factors, transportation lines and natural geographic boundaries such as rivers and mountains are also taken into consideration when creating a new map.

“Some areas obviously grow, some decline, others remain stable and some parts of the country are overrepresented and some are underrepresented,” said Courtney. “It’s simply to try to keep, in tandem with the population shifts, the parliamentary seat distribution pretty well equal from decade to decade.”

To read more please see the August 13 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Craik, featured

Rollover claims lives

A seven-year-old boy and 44-year-old woman are dead following a fatal single vehicle roll over on Highway 11, five minutes south of the Town of Craik.

RCMP media relations’ spokesman Sgt. Rob King said the names of the deceased have not been released and could not confirm their hometowns or relations to each other.

The woman and boy were both trapped inside the vehicle and were extradited by Craik Fire and EMS. The woman succumbed to her injuries on site, while the boy had to be airlifted to the Hospital in Regina in serious condition by STARS where he passed away early the next morning.

The crash occurred on Aug. 4 at 3:15 p.m. in clear conditions and closed the northbound lane of the highway to traffic for around six hours while the RCMP Traffic Reconstruction Unit from Saskatoon assisted with the investigation. A coroner from Regina also attended the scene.

King said the boy and women were both seated in the passenger side of the van, with the women seated in the front seat. The male driver of the vehicle and a five-year-old girl seated in the backseat on the driver’s side received minor injuries and were transported to the Regina Hospital.

This is the second fatal accident on Highway 11 near Craik this summer, following a horrific semi-trailer collision with a car July 3 that resulted in the death of a 38-year-old woman driver of the car. STARS also airlifted her to the hospital in Regina after she was freed from her vehicle by Craik Fire and EMS.

Davidson, Sports

Davidson football field “ready to go”

The Davidson Raiders football team has a place to call home this fall, as the field behind Davidson School has been refurbished through months of hard work under the summer sun.

Jason Low, principal of Davidson school and Raiders head coach, said the field is “ready to go” thanks to the hard work put in by community members to help raise the $19,000 needed to buy the 75,000 square feet of turf before getting their hands dirty putting it in.

“We probably had about five good days where we had shipments of turf come in and we just got little crews of community members and football families together and laid it down,” said Low. “I think we had 118 pallets in total, so it was a fair bit. It’s a regular high school size, but we (put down) a little bit extra. The turf itself is 60 feet by 120 feet.”

The Kinsmen donated the majority of the money needed, with additional contributions received from other community groups and individuals as well. In addition to the hefty price tag for the earth, a $6,000 sprinkler system was installed, which was paid for by the Sun West School Division.

Low said thanks also need to be given to Glen and Kirby Manz for their work in “ripping up and levelling” the field and to Howie Elder who did some crowning and levelling with his grader.  Associate coach Leigh Tennent also pulled his weight by putting in countless hours helping install the sprinkler system and bringing the field back to its former glory.

“It was a football field before, but it was in disrepair,” said Low. “It hasn’t been used in so long that it was really clumpy and ruddy and gopher-ridden. It was just really difficult to do anything on.”

To read more please see the August 13 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Cowboys take wild ride at Lakeshore Stampede

A couple local cowboys showed their mettle at the 18th Annual Lakeshore Stampede Rodeo July 28 in Elbow by climbing into the ring for some roping, bareback riding and steer wrestling.

Davidson’s Scott Sigfusson, the current high point cowboy in the CCA (Canadian Cowboys’ Association), said the rodeo had “great stock and great facilities.” He said he travels to around 70 rodeos a year, pretty much one every weekend between May and October, where he competes in tie down roping, team roping, and “for the bigger adrenalin rush” steer wrestling.

“I was able to acquire the high point cowboy when I was in high school and steer wrestling was just the next step,” said Sigfusson. “You just ride up to a steer on your horse. You slide off your horse. Then you grab the steer by the head and twist his head and throw him to the ground.”

Across the Canadian semi-pro association, Sigfusson is currently sitting fourth in steer wrestling, second in tie down roping and 14th in team roping. He said that his goal is to qualify for the CCA championships in November at the Canadian Western Agribition held in Regina.

Dustan McPhee, from Hanley, took home the top prize this year for bareback riding at the Stampede. A regular at the Elbow rodeo, McPhee said he doesn’t make to many CCA rodeos as he regularly competes at the pro level, but he’s quite fond of the Lakeshore Stampede.

“It’s always a good rodeo and close to home, so I try to make sure I go over there and get entered,” he said. “I’ve been to Elbow a lot and I’ve won it before.”

Refraining to take any praise for his ride, McPhee said it was just a “good little horse” that enabled him to walk away with the prize money in Elbow. He said usually he would be trying to make it to the CFR (Canadian Finals Rodeo) at Edmonton in November during the summer, but not this year.

“I’m too far out of it, but I’ll go to a few more CCA rodeos (this summer) and try and make it to the CCA finals.”

Davidson, featured

$1.3 million fund-raising campaign kicks off

Every little drop counts, Davidson’s Swimming Pool committee is reminding folks as it kicks off a fund-raising campaign to build a new swimming pool.

Little drops may eventually fill buckets, but it would help the community if money came pouring in, because the pool committee has given itself an ambitious mandate to raise $1.3 million in two years. They hope to start construction on the new pool in the summer of 2015.

Davidson’s Swimming Pool committee launched the fund-raising campaign last week after town council, on Tuesday, OK’d its fund-raising plan.

To start, the committee is sending letters to local citizens, detailing the project. An important part of the package is a survey seeking peoples’ opinions on the new pool.

“We set down a list of must haves and we have a wish list. We want to see if our must haves are the same as the community’s,” said Jessie Foster, swimming pool committee member.

They want people to fill out the surveys and return them to the town so that the new pool will meet the community’s expectations.

The surveys will also give the committee insight into the sorts of extra accessories people want the pool to have should the community exceed the fund-raising goal.

One design being proposed suggests a rectangular-shaped, six-lane pool that is 84 feet long and 35 feet wide. Added to these dimensions, in the concept, is a J-shaped section that has a beach entry towards the shallow end that creates a separate paddling pool area for toddlers and waders.

The new pool will be built just north of the current pool’s location, on a parcel of land being donated to the project by Bryan Ulmer.

Town administrator Gary Edom said Ulmer offered to donate some land for the pool with the stipulation the land is used for a swimming pool and pool only.

“We can’t have anything commercial on the donated land,” Edom said.

To read more please see the July 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Craik, featured

Cure to Craik doctor dilemma still needed

The Five Hills Health Region and the potential new doctor for Craik are in negotiations to open a clinic in the town, but emergency services operating out of the Craik Health Centre still appear to be off the table.

Randy Weekes, Saskatchewan Minister of Rural and Remote Health, held a meeting at the Rural Municipality of Craik office last Monday where he met with Craik Mayor Rick Rogers, RM Reeve Hilton Spencer, Davidson Mayor Mary Jane Morrison, Five Hills CEO Cheryl Craig, Dr. Francisco Lang and the potential physician to try and open up a dialogue among the different parties.

“I asked for the meeting because of their concerns and just wanted to get together with all the stakeholders in the community to discuss their concerns about the doctor leaving,” said Weekes about Dr. Maree leaving Craik for a practice in Moose Jaw at the end of July.

“It was a very positive meeting we had with all the stakeholders. I think there was a lot of information given about various issues. Now the health region is negotiating with the physician to work in Craik.”

The terms of the contract, namely what services the physician can offer and their working conditions such as on-call services, has been left up to Five Hills to negotiate with the doctor. The minister’s involvement was mainly to make sure “open communication and good dialogue” is kept up.

“I think the health region has a plan in place to continue to provide very good primary health care to the citizens in Craik,” said Weekes. “If they negotiate a contract with the physician, that would be an important piece of that health care. In Craik, they have a nurse practitioner and other health care professionals that are providing health care as we move forward.”

Weekes added that it is a “challenge” to attract doctors to rural areas, so community involvement as well as working with their health region is “so important” to attract and then retain physicians.

To read more please see the July 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.