The spring session of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly came to a close last Thursday with members from both the government and opposition claiming success on the issues they have brought forward the past two months along with frustration toward views coming from the other side.

Saskatchewan Party MLA Greg Brkich, who represents Arm River, said the government has helped the people of this province this spring by bringing in a balanced budget, introducing private liquor stores and looking into new laws to improve safety in highway construction zones. He said the party, which holds 49 of the 58 seats in the legislature, has not confronted many difficulties this past session putting forward its mandate other than “a few concerns with health and a little bit with highways,” but those issues have been addressed.

“Calls to the office have been very light with concerns,” said Brkich. “We get a lot of compliments on the direction that our government is going in, which is the economy. We still have the strongest economy in Canada and that is what people are most favourable of, having a good strong economy.”

Brkich said the New Democratic Party’s spring concerns about the long-term care conditions for seniors is a falsehood considering “they never did anything for the 16 years they were in (power for long-term care),” while the Sask. Party government has announced 13 new long-term care facilities in an attempt to play “catch up” with the needed infrastructure due to NDP neglect. He cited the new long-term care facility in Watrous along with the other 12 “that are being built and being close to finished” as how the government is addressing the problem of the condition of current long-term care.

The NDP and independent provincial auditor’s demands for greater transparency when it comes to the government’s use of two sets of books to determine the province’s finances come budget time was also dismissed by Brkich. He said using a single set of books to determine the province’s finances is “up to the finance minister,” but for him showing a balance on both the general revenue and the summaries provides a better argument.

“The general revenue is your day-to-day money that is coming in,” he said. “It’s your day-to-day expenses. The summary is more of your long-term, so actually looking at the two gives you a better picture of what’s happening in Saskatchewan rather than just having one set of books.”

Cam Broten, leader of the Saskatchewan NDP and MLA for Saskatoon Massey Place, said his party has voiced the concerns of many Saskatchewan people during his first session as leader of the official opposition including the lack of transparency displayed by the government in respect to the province’s $19 billion debt despite a robust economy and the care for Saskatchewan seniors that is not up to “standards that everyone wants” and expects.

“The report from the provincial auditor that was released (this past month was) very critical and scathing of the Sask. Party government for maintaining two sets of books,” said Broten in a conference call. “The auditor clearly said this has allowed them to hide deficits and it doesn’t give an accurate picture of the total debt, which is now over $19 billion. We wish the government would agree with the independent provincial auditor, but we have seen a dismissive approach by them, where they don’t see any need for change, even though the rest of the country does things differently.”

To read more please see the May 20 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

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.”