SACRED HEART
ART SHOW
School marks 60 years A3
Local artists show talents A15
Issue 27
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
ESTEVAN’S
SOURCE FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL NEWS
Estevan and Coronach are to decide on how to use $10M for coal transition By Ana Bykhovskaia abykhovskaia@estevanmercury.ca
Communities of Estevan and Coronach will get to decide how to use $10 million allocated by the provincial government for coal transition. Premier Scott Moe announced the creation of a fund in the throne speech on Oct. 23. The money will be used to assist Estevan, Coronach and surrounding areas in the transition to new economic development opportunities for workers affected by the federally-mandated phaseout of coal-fired electricity by 2030. “It ’s really exciting that we are going to be able to help out the communities with this funding,” said Estevan MLA Lori Carr, who is also a minister of Government Relations and also holds a number of other cabinet postings. “I think it’s a step in the right direction. We are happy to see that we were able to get some funding
sooner than later to help mitigate the closures of Units 4 and 5 at Boundary Dam, which are coming up in 2021 and ‘24. So this will help us to get economic activity in place to help make up for the losses we will be facing come the closures of Units 4 and 5,” said Mayor of Estevan Roy Ludwig. The fund is just in its infancy, which means that it will take some time still to work out the details. The committee will be set to flesh out the details and decide on the best ways to use the money. “We will be setting up a committee made up of members from the communities of Estevan, Coronach and the ministr y. This committee will be setting the parameters and guiding the path forward. And I want to be clear that this will be something that will be what is in the best interest of all of these communities and ideas put for ward by them,” said Carr.
so they can work out the details as soon as possible,” said Carr. This is 100 per cent provincial funding that’s going to the municipality. When all parameters are fleshed out, it will be up to the communities affected by the coal phase-out to decide what steps need to be made to ensure the smooth transition. The fund will be directed towards such things as economic development initiatives to improve the local business environment, municipal investment attraction initiatives,
hosting investment delegations, outgoing investment attraction missions, community development planning and strategy formulation and some other efforts. Carr also said that the fund that they are setting up now will be focusing strictly on trying to get more economic development within the regions that are being affected. “Hopefully when the time comes we have other jobs in place for these people to be able to transition to and stay in our community,” said Carr.
“I wish that we didn’t have to do this. I truly wish that we could do business as usual, and we could run our coal plants the way they are into the future, but due to the nature of the federal regulations that have come down … these are decisions that have to be made. This is what we can do right now to ensure the best outcome for when things start happening and job losses start happening as far as power and coal go.” These dollars will be used to try to ensure that there are jobs for people to work in their communities, so they can stay in Estevan and in Coronach and be able to continue to have the lives that they love here. At this stage, it’s not clear yet, if the money will come all at once or will be spread out over a period of time. The funding will be significant support for the re-organization of living of the coal-oriented communities, however, both Carr and Ludwig said that it’s just a part of the money needed to ensure Coronach and Estevan can keep the employment opportunities. A2 » MONEY
St. Joseph’s Hospital announced late on Monday the formation of the South East Family Medicine, Obstetrical & Surgical Group, formerly known as the South East Medical Group. The group will remain located in St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation’s Medical Clinic adjoining to the hospital. This group, including family physicians and physicians with obstetrical and surgical training, will be important to providing uninterrupted obstetrical services in Estevan, including the critical element of C-Section coverage. Dr. Edward Krickan
and Dr. Brian Geller both presently provide services at St. Joseph’s Hospital and will continue to work in this group practice, providing both obstetrical and surgical services. Krickan announced earlier this year that he will be relocating to his home province of B.C. before the end of 2019, but he will be coming back to Estevan on a part-time basis. Geller currently resides in Regina but has been working in Estevan as a locum physician. New to Estevan, Dr. Christy Trafananko will join the group in January, providing obstetrical coverage.Their coverage will include prenatal and newborn care. All three
will also provide family medicine services along with Dr. Ryan Cormier and Dr. Neal Cabigon. In addition, Dr. Andrey Babkis, who is an anesthesiologist, has now committed to the provision of anesthesiology services in Estevan moving forward, which is critical for all emergency operating room procedures, including C-section services. Greg Hoffort, executive director of St. Joseph’s Hospital, said that this group offers the community a very important service and will meet an ongoing need. This week’s edition of Southeast Lifestyles will have more on this story.
From left, city councillor Greg Hoffort, Estevan MLA Lori Carr, Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig and city manager Jeff Ward were at the throne speech release on Oct. 23. Photo submitted The process is supposed to start in the near future. “This is all going to go through my portfolio, through Government Relations and be managed through that portfolio. So I’ve directed my officials to reach out to both Mayor Roy Ludwig and the mayor of Coronach and arrange the meeting
Business leaders recognized at awards night By David Willberg
Hospital makes big announcement
dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Outstanding accomplishments in Estevan’s business community were saluted Friday night during the fifth biennial Estevan Business Excellence Awards, presented by the Estevan Chamber of Commerce. Awards were handed out in 10 different categories during the evening, with the two biggest awards saved for last. Josh L eBlanc won the Murray GM Business Leader of the Year Award, not only for his work at Coldwell Banker Choice Real Estate and at the Estevan Comprehensive School, where he teaches entrepreneurship, leadership and financial literacy, but for his efforts to promote the com-
Josh LeBlanc, was named the Business Leader of the Year. munity and bring big events to Estevan. LeBlanc stressed there are some amazing business leaders in the community who have won the award in the past, and he is honoured to be included in the list with them. After thanking his family, those at Coldwell Banker, including his business partner Meigan Wilhelm, the people at ECS and the community as a whole,
LeBlanc gave a call to action on the future of the city that earned a standing ovation from the crowd. “It’s going to require all of us to think outside the box and all of us to participate, but I can’t think of a better community to tackle the challenge,” said LeBlanc. He also paid tribute to the City of Estevan and city council, the local economic development committee and A2 » AWARDS
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