Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Issue 24
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
A parade of zombies The South East Sask. Roller Derby Association’s Junior Coaler Rollers held their annual Zombie Walk on Sunday afternoon. The majority of the teams’ members donned their favourite zombie attire and face paint, and walked from Estevan Bowl to the Estevan Courthouse and back. They also brought non-perishable donations for the Estevan Salvation Army’s food bank. Photo by David Willberg
Sears store in Estevan to close within weeks The Sears store located on Fourth Street in downtown Estevan is going to close in the coming weeks, now that Sears Canada has been given the green light to liquidate all of its remaining stores and assets. Sears Canada announced on Oct. 10 that it and some subsidiaries had applied for liquidation approval. The motion was approved on Oct. 13, and further information of the process was provided on Oct. 16. Liquidation across the country is started to start on Oct. 19 and last for 10 to 14 weeks. The Estevan location was a Sears Hometown store, which is owned and operated by an independent dealer. In the case of the Estevan store, the owner is Shane Winter. He said
he has two employees in the store. The Sears location in Estevan offered electronics, home appliances, mattresses and other goods. According to the Sears website, it was one of three in the province, and one of nearly 50 across the country. Winter said he doesn’t know when the store will be closing, but he can’t see it taking the length of time that has been speculated by the company. He was hoping a buyer would step forward to save the company and allow the local store to remain open, but that didn’t transpire. Winter noted the store had a full stock of inventory as of last week. The closure of the Estevan store, and the other Sears stores across the country, marks the final
The Sears Hometown store in Estevan will be closing in the coming weeks as part of the national liquidation of all Sears Canada locations. chapter for Sears in this country. Sears Canada’s roots in Canada date back to 1953, when it was known as Simpsons-Sears, through a partnership Simpsons Limited. At one time, it was the top retailer in Canada. But earlier this year, 54 Sears stores across the
country, including several stores in Saskatchewan, were shut down, and about 2,900 employees across the country were laid off. As part of the liquidation that will begin this week, Sears will no longer be in a position to honour Sears Protection Agreement
Sask. Party leadership hopeful Gordon Wyant visits Estevan By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
One of the candidates in the Sask. Party leadership race visited Estevan on Monday to meet with party supporters. Gordon Wyant was at the Days Inn’s Taylorton Room to listen to concerns from the public and to share his priorities during a speech to the audience. He also answered questions from the public. Wyant has been the MLA for Saskatoon Northwest since 2010, and held the prominent posts of at-
torney general and minister of justice before joining the leadership race. Among his other cabinet posts was the minister for SaskPower. While in Estevan, he voiced his support for the carbon capture and storage project at the Boundary Dam Power Station. “I think there’s some great potential for further expansion of carbon capture,” Wyant told the Mercury. “It certainly enhances the economy in this area as far as the further use of coal for generating electricity in Saskatchewan.” Wyant said he is a be-
liever in advancing technologies that allow the economy to thrive. “I think we have to look at that technology, and as that price comes down, make sure it’s economical, but I’m a big fan of carbon capture and sequestration,” said Wyant. Countries from all over the world are looking at CCS technology, and that is illustrated in the number of tours that have happened at Boundary Dam in the last three years. Wyant is pleased with the leadership campaign thus far. He claims he has
travelled 15,000 kilometres over the past 1 1/2 months, and he says he has met with a lot of people. The stop in Estevan was part of a tour of the southeast that also included time in Weyburn on Monday. “We’ve been hearing lots of local issues,” said Wyant. “We spent a lot of time travelling to the SUMA (Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association) regional meetings, and at those meetings, we heard a lot of local issues. We heard a lot of local issues around water and waste water.” A2 » WYANT
warranties to customers after Oct. 18. Most merchandise normally sold by Sears comes with a one-year manufacturer’s warranty, which will be available to customers directly from the manufacturers. Refunds on protection agreements will be allowed
to customers that have purchased them within the past 30 days, per normal procedures. Sears will continue to accept gift cards until the liquidation is complete. About 12,000 people will lose their jobs across the country.
Human smuggling case adjourned to Nov. 6 By Brian Zinchuk brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net
A human smuggling case has been adjourned, again, to Nov. 6, but additional charges were filed on Oct. 11 as part of the case. Michelle StawfordOmoruyi faces charges of human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling from April 15, 2017. She faces these charges jointly with co-accused Victor Omoruyi. The case came
up in Estevan provincial court on Monday morning. The additional charges include possession of over $5,000 obtained directly or indirectly from human smuggling; and using, transferring possession or delivering any property or proceeds obtained by, directly or indirectly, organizing entry into Canada. The charges note the case involves the acused allegedly aided or abetted nine foreign nationals.
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