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Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Volume 45, Issue 32 Price - $1.52 plus GST Return undeliverable items to: Yorkton This Week 20 Third Ave. N., Yorkton, SK S3N 2X3
Balance and mental health budget focus By Devin Wilger Staff Writer The Saskatchewan Party government has been promising a balanced budget for years. In 2019, the government says they have met that goal. Donna Harpauer, Minister of Finance, was in Yorkton to talk budget at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon. The headline for the budget is a return to balance, something that the government has been promising for the past several years. The problem has been making the province less reliant on resource revenue, which also involved expanding the scope of the PST. “The surplus is very, very fine, and it has been a three year journey to get here. That’s shifting our reliance on resource revenue. Three years ago resource revenue fell $1.3 billion, and in a $14 million that’s quite significant. So we had to make structural changes and very hard choices,” said Harpauer. A primary focus of this year’s budget was mental health, and increasing funding for services. Greg Ottenbreit, Yorkton MLA and Minister of
Hanging on
Staff Photo by Calvin Daniels
The Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton was the place to be on the weekend if you were a budding bull rider. The local casino brought in a mechanical bull to challenge local riders. When the final rides were
complete the PHC Queen of the mechanical bull was Breanna Olafson, while the PHC King of the mechanical bull was Curt Favel.
City sees new fed dollars By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer The federal government budget released last Tuesday had some good news for Canadian municipalities. Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney said the Liberal government
Your Community Connection
announced an additional $2.2 billion “to top up the federal gas tax fund.” The City of Yorkton has received roughly $900,000 through the program, the funds having to be ear marked for capital projects. “This year they’re going to double it to more like $1.8 million,”
said Maloney. The additional funding is significant considering the City was looking to borrow $3 million for road work on 2019. “It will cut down on the amount of money we have to borrow,” said
By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer At the regular meeting of Yorkton Council a recommendation that the 2019 Bridges Project contract be part of the North Sewer System Upgrades Project budgeted at $11,130,000 and furthermore, award the 2019 Bridges Project contract to Graham Construction and Engineering LP, for their bid of $7,625,700.00 (taxes included) was passed but just barely. Three Councillors; Randy Goulden, Quinn Haider and Ken Chyz sat opposed. The stumbling block for the trio appeared to centre on a detour upgrade which was not part of the recommendation. Had the upgrade been approved the contractor would have constructed a detour “for the Hwy 9 Bridge that would allow for continuous two-way traffic instead of only 1-way and would eliminate the
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North sewer upgrade tender accepted
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44 Dracup Ave., Yorkton
Rural and Remote Health, said that the funding increase will largely go through existing agencies, boosting funding for walk-in mental health and addictions services, using SIGN, for example. Funds will also be used to establish new programs, or expand existing ones, and Ottenbreit points to the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) and the recently established Community Recovery Team as examples of how mental health funding will be used in the area, and how they will take different approaches to reach people who need help. Yorkton will also benefit from the introduction of the First Links program for Alzheimer’s patients and their families to Yorkton. “Basically, we’re building on what’s already there.” It’s a bit of a mixed bag for education in the area. The Parkland College will be getting a funding increase. The college will receive $3.6 million in total operating and capital maintenance funding, an increase of $0.16 million, or
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