FALL CAR CARE
MEMORIAL WALL
Tips for maintenance A8 - A9
New addition for golf course A11
Issue 25
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
ESTEVAN’S
SOURCE FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL NEWS
Candidates share platforms at forum By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Estevan area residents had the opportunity to hear from most of the local candidates who are running in the upcoming federal election during a candidates’ forum Thursday evening at the Royal Canadian Legion’s Estevan branch. Five of the six candidates running in SourisMoose Mountain were present for the forum: Ashlee Hicks of the New Democratic Party, Robert Kitchen of the Conservative Party, Judy Meager of the Green Party, Travis Patron of the Canadian Nationalist Party and Phillip Zajac of the People’s Party of Canada. Javin Ames-Sinclair of the Liberal Party failed to make it to the forum, which was hosted by the Estevan Chamber of Commerce. Chamber vice-president Jeff Richards was the moderator. The evening began with each of the five candidates giving a two-minute prepared statement. Mergel was the first to speak, and
Robert Kitchen noted it was the first time she has been in Estevan. She is a retired cattle rancher from Wood Mountain who spends time gardening, teaching tai chi and running a private animal sanctuary. Mergel took exception with those who view the Greens as a one-issue party. She noted that in a party pamphlet, three of eight promises dealt with the environment. They also tackled issues such as free post-secondary tuition, expanded medicare to include dental care, a basic income plan to combat poverty and crime, national pharmacare,
Phil Zajac
and addressing issues of Indigenous people through consultation. She expects the party will pay for these promises by several means before 2025 by raising taxes on large corporations, closing tax loopholes, receiving taxes from tax havens, imposing taxes on commercial banks and taxing e-commerce corporations like Netflix. None of these would come from the pockets of Canadians. Hicks said she believes residents of Souris-Moose Mountain are ready for a
change. People are worried about the cost of living, including housing, phone bills and medical needs. “We’re facing serious national issues like climate change and the challenge of reconciliation that both the Liberals and Conservatives have not quite done enough on,” said Hicks. Young people are still struggling to pay for the cost of their post-secondary education, boil water advisories are in place on reserves, and kids are still growing up in unsafe and overcrowded homes and schools.
Canada is still far off from meeting its Paris Climate Accord commitments, she said. Mergel also pointed out that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has twice been found to be violating the country’s Conflict of Interest Act. “We’re on the side of working Canadians, not big corporations and lobbyists. We know that Canadians want a more affordable life, services like universal pharmacare and action on the big issues like reconciliation and climate change,” she said.
Zajac said the People’s Party of Canada will put people first, and he stressed that the party is the only one that would pull Canada from the Paris Accord. “I don’t know if any of you have taken the time to read the Paris Accord or understand it, but it is an accord that the United Nations has put together that is stripping resource wealthy countries of their wealth,” Zajac said. The PPC is also for smaller government. They want to put money back into everybody’s hands by reducing personal income tax for everybody. Zajac believes the Liberal and Conservatives have used that promise for their own campaigns. Business owners, farmers and homeowners can look forward to the carbon tax being completely repealed. They won’t amend it, rebrand it or charge heavy carbon users. “If you start taxing the big companies, they’ll leave, and we understand that, and that will cost A2 » FEDERAL
Railway crossing near Bienfait is a lot smoother After years of waiting, a CP Rail crossing for Highway 18 near Bienfait is a lot smoother, thanks to a recent resurfacing project. Dennis Moore, who is a councillor with Estevan city council and the chairperson of the South East Transportation Planning Committee, said the stretch was done in a few days, thanks to the efforts of CP Rail, the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure and paving crews. “I for one am really, really happy that it got wrapped up, and I went down and personally took a look at it and took some pictures, and I think the people in the surrounding area will be really pleased to have a smooth crossing for a change,” said Moore. The work was completed in early October. Traffic was rerouted around the crossing for two days during the project. “They would have dug
out the old crossing, all of the timbers and the asphalt and whatever else was giving us the problems. After all of these years, it had settled down,” said Moore. The repairs to the crossing have been a priority project for the transportation committee for the five years that Moore has been a member. He’s not sure of when it was smooth previously, because there is some large, heavy traffic that has crossed the tracks. “We have been meeting with the ministry, and it was on the agenda at every meeting, and finally the right people got together and got the job done, so at this point all we can do is thank them,” said Moore. Bienfait Mayor Paul Carroll has also been calling the project to be completed, Moore said. “We’ve had several different people voicing their opinion as to how long it’s
A CP Rail crossing on the outskirts of Bienfait is smoother after a resurfacing project was completed. Photo submitted taken to get done, but now that it’s done, we can back off and hope that the job
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lasts for several years before we have to do it again.” Since the transporta-
tion committee is an advisory board, they can talk to the ministry about the roads and other infrastructure problems that they believe need to be addressed, but they can’t lobby the government about specific projects. I t ’s a n i m p o r t a n t stretch of road to the transportation committee because it affects a lot of people. Thousands of vehicles use that stretch of road every day, and it’s one of the busiest stretches of Highway 18 in the province. “It’s taken a real beating. It probably just didn’t get the maintenance that it used to, so things sometimes play out, and I think the new technology will save us for a long time now, and if it doesn’t, the public will let us know, because that’s the way it works,” said Moore. David Horth, the assistant director of com-
munications and customer service with the Ministry of Highways and infrastructure, said the ministry had received a number of complaints about the crossing. “Basically the road surface was too rough,” said Horth. “So we issued a permit to CP on September 30 of this year to upgrade the crossing to a concrete surface.” That work was completed on Oct. 2 and 3. Moore said he is pleased with the work that has been done, and having driven it, he doubts they could have done a better job. “At our meeting coming up at the end of this month, we’ll certainly let the ministry know that we’re pleased that they finally got together with everybody that it took to do the job, and we’ll put our efforts into the next project that needs to have some attention.”
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