review
weyburn Vol.111 No. 40 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan Wednesday, September 30, 2020 - 12 Pages
.com
WCS grad gets scholarship
Motocross races held
Alex Williams received the Gene Haas Foundation scholarship. Page 2
The hills of the Raymond Giroux Memorial track were alive with the sounds of motorcycles. Page 6
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Getting a pheasant for release
Review Photo 9967 — Greg Nikkel Royce Lohse is given a male ring-necked pheasant by Dale Paslawski, as part of a release of some 500 pheasants by the Weyburn Wildlife Federation on Saturday. Teske Game Birds of Yellow Grass brought the pheasants to the Wildlife Federation members at the South Weyburn clubhouse, where families and children were able to release about 50 of the birds before the remaining crates of birds were taken by members for release throughout the Weyburn and surrounding region.
MP ‘extremely disappointed’ in Throne Speech
By Greg Nikkel The Speech from the Throne left MP Dr. Robert Kitchen feeling “extremely disappointed”, and he has been involved in the debates and votes that have followed in the House of Commons. “The prime minister prorogued the government back in the middle of August, and gave the impression he was going to come up with some amazing and inspiring speech. Ultimately the question was, he prorogued Parliament for this?” he said on Monday, after being in the Commons all day. He was preparing to take part in the first of the votes in the evening. The Conservatives and the Block Quebecois have both stated there is nothing they
could support in the Throne Speech, while the NDP have been “waffling” in their support, said the MP. In his view, this speech just rehashed the same old thing Trudeau brought forward before, and Kitchen felt he could also give the same speech in response that he gave last year, “and that’s just embarrassing to have a prime minister promote so much hype and then do nothing, and how he’s going to keep doing the same thing, spending more of Canadian taxpayers’ money.” For the agriculture sector, the MP noted that farmers were only mentioned twice in the speech, and the oil and gas sector was not mentioned in any way at all, nor
was there any mention about helping Canada’s veterans. To appease the demands of the NDP and earn their support for the Throne Speech, the Trudeau government has put forward Bill C-2 and C-4, which will provide for some of the wishes of the NDP, such as providing for sick leave for two weeks. These are not confidence votes, noted Kitchen, with one vote on Monday night and another scheduled for 2 a.m. on Wednesday to get these bills through before the confidence votes are held on the Speech itself. “The government wouldn’t agree to what we wanted, as we’ll only have four hours debate,” said the MP. The Bloc and the Con-
servatives have each put forward amendments to the Throne Speech, which are confidence votes, and then the vote on the speech itself is also a confidence vote. Kitchen noted that if the NDP is satisfied with the concessions the Liberals are giving them, they will support the speech and give the Liberals enough votes so that it won’t fall and force a snap election. The MP pointed out that Trudeau kept mentioning the “Team Canada” approach to the economy, but in his view, rather than the whole team playing together, they are only playing their first line and not putting the second, third or fourth lines out at all. COVID is having an impact on how all the voting
is going to take place, noted Kitchen, as only a certain number are allowed in the House of Commons at any particular time. For the Monday evening vote, Kitchen had to be on his computer in his office, and had to stay on line for the entire time the vote took place. His vote counts like those in the House, but only if he is always present at his computer voting in a Zoom-like format
in conjunction with the members in the House. Before Monday, there was only a test run done where a vote that would normally take about 10 minutes to do will last 45 to 50 minutes to complete. “It’ll be interesting to see how this one goes,” he said as the bells sounded, giving the MPs a 30-minute notice of the impending vote in the House.
Weyburn candidate to run for NDP in provincial election By Greg Nikkel A Weyburn candidate, Regan Lanning, has stepped forward to run for the New Democratic Party in the upcoming provincial election, the day before the writ was dropped Tuesday to officially start the election. “I felt it was important to have a local resident running for the NDP who’s in touch with local concerns and what life is actually like here for Weyburn residents,” said Lanning, noting this is her first foray into politics. “Democracy is a passion of mine,” she said, noting she has done door-to-door enumerations before as well as working at polling stations in past elections. Well-known in the city and area as the curator for the Weyburn Arts Council, Lanning is a wife and mother of two, and put forward concerns about education and
health as her top two issues in this election. In regard to education, she said she has concerns about cuts to schools and in particular the return to school plans. “I had a lot of concerns about the Sask Party’s back to school plans. It didn’t seem particularly well-laid out,” she said, noting they had time to do research and consult medical professionals and teachers about the best way for schools to resume after being closed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Ryan Meili came out with an amazing plan where they contacted medical professionals and teachers, and they submitted the plan to the Saskatchewan, and it wasn’t even really considered,” said Lanning. “A pandemic shouldn’t be political. We need all of our leaders working together.” Her other main concern is
health care, and in particular the mass exodus of family doctors from Weyburn. “I lost my doctor. I have a new doctor now, but he’s busy and doesn’t know me like my doctor did,” she said. “I’m excited about a new hospital being built, but it was a long drawn-out process to get that, and when our new hospital is built, what are we going to do if we have no doctors?” Lanning hopes that a new facility will attract more doctors, but is concerned about why doctors are leaving here. “I think there’s something going on in Weyburn. What is happening in Weyburn? What’s happening with the health care system here? We haven’t had a maternity ward for at least 13 years now. That is ridiculous. Why don’t we have a maternity ward here? Smaller communities are ca-
pable of having babies born at their hospital, why isn’t Weyburn? Our medical care is in dire straits. How many Weyburn residents are without a doctor right now. It’s scary, especially during a pandemic,” said Lanning. The cutting of the STC bus service is another concern she has, and commented, “I’m all for austerity, but there has to be a balance. We can’t keep cutting services in our communities.” She said she’s always been a political person, and felt it was important that there is a local candidate running for the provincial election who knows what the local concerns are. With the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said she is available by email or phone, and can come meet people on their doorsteps if they would like to talk about any issues or concerns.
Tenille is a ‘Rising Star’
Photo — Michael Emery
Weyburn’s own Tenille Arts was awarded as a “Rising Star” by the Canadian Country Music Association on Sunday evening. She is shown in Nashville with the award, as the CCMAs were held virtually from Burl’s Creek Event Grounds and Nashville. She had also been nominated for Album of the Year.