ECS FOOTBALL
REMEMBRANCE DAY Tributes to veterans
A9 - A14
A15
Team hands out awards
Issue 28
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Paul Carroll reflects on Tory leadership race By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Paul Carroll’s bid to become the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan came up short. Carroll, who was the party’s candidate in the Estevan constituency in the 2016 provincial election, and is the current mayor of Bienfait, was defeated by Regina’s Ken Grey during the party’s leadership convention Saturday in Moose Jaw. The results of the leadership race were not immediately available. Carroll said he didn’t perform well during his speech before voting took place, and he expects that cost him some votes. “Ken did perform well at the podium, and delivered a very dynamic speech, and I think that he was rewarded for it,” said Carroll. In his speech, Carroll criticized what he views as an excessive amount provincial sales tax (PST) now being paid in Saskatchewan. He not only targeted the decision to increase the PST from five per cent to six per cent last year, but to apply it to such expenses as children’s clothing. “That’s very detrimental to people with young families, and they should be rewarded for helping grow the population,” said Carroll. He also criticized the amount of money spent on the Regina bypass and the issues
Paul Carroll that have been encountered with the Global Transportation Hub. “I talked about committees to help bolster our party both in the north and south, and to arrange for candidates in all of the ridings in the next election,” said Carroll. Most of his support came from the Estevan area. Carroll doesn’t think he had enough support from people in Regina, and he believes Grey had most of his support from the Queen City. It was tough going up against someone from a market of that size. “He had many members here who were in attendance, and so I could see that I was up against the wall early in the day, but I tried to put my best face on and hope for the best, and that didn’t happen,” said Carroll. Carroll was the first candidate to submit his nomination papers for the party’s leadership. At the time, the A2 »CARROLL
Charge dismissed against Nalco Champion Nalco Champion, an Ecolab Company, has had a third and final Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) charge under the Saskatchewan Employment Act dismissed in connection with the death of one of its workers, Michael Bunz. Bunz died on May 22, 2014, due to exposure to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) at an oilfield separator site near Kipling, owned and operated by Harvest Energy Corporation. A ball valve had failed while Bunz was preparing to take a fluid sample, causing a release of high, and lethal, levels of H2S, killing him. The dismissal Friday in Estevan Provincial Court was the conclusion of a long and drawn-out court process which began with the filing of three different charges against Nalco on Dec. 9, 2015, nearly three years ago. For the full story, please visit www.estevanmercury.ca.
Brick arcade J.J. Nagy and mom Kristol Nagy look at some of the displays at the 2018 Brickery Lego event Saturday morning at the 60 and Over Club. For more on the event, please see Page A8. Photo by Corey Atkinson
Change made to 2020 election date The next municipal and school board election will be happening in 2020, but not on the date that was initially scheduled. The provincial government announced last week that it had moved its next provincial election to Oct. 26, 2020. The municipal and school board election will instead happen on Nov. 9 of that year. It’s going to be on a Monday, as opposed to the traditional Wednesday date, because Remembrance Day is on a Wednesday in 2020. There had been discussion of having the next civic election in 2021, but those plans appear to have been abandoned. Mayor Roy Ludwig said local city council gave the issue some thought, and said previously they would grudgingly back a five-year term. “It definitely wasn’t overwhelming support,” said Ludwig. “After giving it some thought, our council said ‘If it has to be, it has to be. We didn’t have consultation on this particular date that they’ve changed it to, but we’ll try to make it work.” The mayor believes other municipal governments in Saskatchewan were opposed to the change. “I know quite a few of the larger cities especially did not agree with it,” said Ludwig.
The next civic election will be held in 2020, deciding who will be part of Estevan city council. File photo He also found out about the government’s decision through the media. Ludwig would have rather seen the provincial government keep the civic election on its original date of Oct. 28, 2020, and to see the province have an election in September or November. City clerk Judy Pilloud also voiced a few concerns with the new election dates. The first is that the majority of election workers are snowbirds who are usually gone by the date the provincial government has selected for the municipal election. “A lot of snowbirds would like the ability to vote before they leave for their
winter homes,” said Pilloud. “Typically those are people we can count on. They are retired and dedicated and love to sit at the polls.” Another concern is the city budget. It is usually completed in the last week of November, and if a new council is being sworn after Nov. 9, they will need time to understand what the city does operationally. Pilloud conceded the new council will be elected only 12 days later than expected, but by the time they’re declared elected and sworn-in, it won’t leave much time for the budget. “If you have any hitch in your election, this will throw
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the timing off. If there’s a tie vote, or if you have to do a recount, that just delays everything longer. Not that we’ve ever had this happen in the past, but I just like to be prepared when I do things.” If a second call for nominations is needed for mayor, councillor or school board trustee, then it pushes the date of the vote even closer to Christmas. “Most people don’t want to be out, going to the polls at Christmas time. They would rather be at home with their families.” Other cities have found themselves in situations in which they haven’t had A2 » CONCERNS
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