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Lori Carr elected as Estevan’s MLA for a second term By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
The Saskatchewan Party continues to be the dominant party in provincial politics, and it continues to have a strong grip over southeast Saskatchewan. The Sask. Party won a fourth straight majority government in Monday’s provincial election, winning or holding the lead in 50 of 61 ridings. When the provincial election was called, they had 46, while the opposition NDP had 13. Two seats were vacant. In the Estevan constituency, Lori Carr of the Saskatchewan Party picked up 4,100 of the 6,623 votes cast, or 61.9 per cent of the popular vote. Phil Zajac of the recentlyformed Buffalo Party was second with 1,689 (25.5 per cent), Seth Lendrum of the New Democratic Party was third with 391 (5.9 per cent), Linda Sopp of the Progressive Conservatives was fourth at 329 (5.0 per cent) and Scott Meyers of the Green Party was fifth with 114 (1.7 per cent). There are also 441 mail-in ballots that have yet to be counted in the riding, and those weren’t tabulated as of Mercury press time. Those mail-in ballots won’t impact the results in Estevan, but could change results in some of the big city ridings, where results are close. In an interview with the Mercury Monday night, Carr said she
Lori Carr will serve as Estevan’s MLA for a second term, following her victory in Monday’s provincial election. Photo by Brian Zinchuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter is looking forward to representing the constituency for a second term, and she was pleased to see another strong majority government for the Sask. Party. “We did a lot of door-knocking. We door-knocked the entire constituency, all of the residents,” she said. People shared a lot of concerns about the future of coal-fired power generation in the riding, especially with the pending retirement of Units 4 and 5 at the Boundary Dam
Power Station. “We all know that carbon capture and sequestration is something that works. It does take those emissions out of the air. It’s something that I want to be able to continue with.” The decision on whether CCS technology will be applied to Unit 6 at Boundary Dam Power Station and for the Shand Power Station will be made in the next few years. She also heard a lot of concerns
about the need for a new Estevan Regional Nursing Home. The committee tasked with raising the local share for the project reached its goal in early 2015, but since then, Estevan has been stuck in the queue for longterm care projects. “It’s just a matter of the province prioritizing which nursing homes get to go first. Unfortunately, within the province, there are several nursing homes that are in worse condition than the nursing home here in Este-
van,” said Carr. The support for the newlyformed Buffalo Party cut into her share of the popular vote from the 78 per cent she received in 2016. Carr’s share of the vote is the lowest for a Sask. Party candidate since Doreen Eagles received 51 per cent of the vote in 2003. Carr noted the Buffalo Party had a big emphasis on support for coal power and for the oil and gas sector. “It just shows me how important coal is for this community, and I think it was them talking and saying this is how important this is for us,” said Carr. This campaign was very different from the one four years ago. Carr spent more time at public gatherings in advance of the 2016 election, but that wasn’t possible this time due to crowd restrictions due to COVID-19. “Even going to coffee rows and different things, and the whole contact tracing piece, you don’t want to be seeing too many people face to face,” said Carr. “The door-knocking worked really well, because we could knock, step back six feet, you had your mask on all the time, and you knew that you were in that safe zone.” Normally she would also shake hands and spend more time visiting people. Carr had a campaign office on Fourth Street in Estevan this year, but spent election night at home with A2 » CARR
Addictions Treatment Centre now open and helping patients The new addictions treatment centre at St. Joseph’s Hospital is now open, and already more than half of the beds for patients receiving care are now occupied. The centre held its grand opening in mid-September and officially opened on Oct. 6; the opening itself couldn’t be acknowledged due to the blackout period associated with the Oct. 26 provincial election. St. Joseph’s CEO Greg Hoffort said they admitted five patients when the centre opened earlier this month, and more have been arriving since. About a dozen patients are currently receiving treatment. “Our goal is to continue a slow, phase-in until the full funded occupancy, which is 20,” Hoffort told the Mercury. It was never their intention to have all 20 patients receiving care at the centre on the opening day. The 12 patients come from
across Saskatchewan, including the southeast region. The addictions centre specializes in crystal meth, and some of the patients now in Estevan are recovering from crystal meth addiction. “Crystal meth is the prevalent addiction of the clients we have right now,” said Hoffort. He expects to reach the capacity of 20 within the next month. As for staffing, the last of the 15 positions should be filled before the end of the month. All of the counsellors and the treatment centre manager have already been hired; nursing and attendant staff still have to be hired. The renovations to the area that houses the treatment centre were completed earlier and were on time, he said. Some furniture still has to be moved in before the project is finished. “It’s a very warm and home-like environment that we’ve created, as much as you can
within an institution,” said Hoffort. “We’re really pleased with how everything turned out.” The program also has four pre-treatment and six posttreatment beds. The latter won’t be used until the first patients are ready to move on from the treatment centre. “That will be 30-60 days down the road, depending on the length of time of their individualized program,” said Hoffort. “At that point, we’ll be looking at the post (treatment) beds that we were also approved for.” Since it opened, there have been challenges associated with having a new facility, but everything has gone very well thus far. “We’re pleased with the partnership we have with Cedars at Cobble Hill, and we’re very pleased as well with our new staff. They’re really motivated staff to make a difference,” said Hoffort. Since the treatment centre
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The addictions treatment centre at St. Joseph’s Hospital is open and treating patients. File photo doesn’t ever take a break, it means that patients will have to be here over the Christmas break to receive treatment. The Government of Saskatchewan announced in March it had committed $1.55 million in the 2020-21 budget and $1.95 million in annualized funding to establish the new treatment centre.This funding will support
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the addictions treatment beds, with 15 beds dedicated to people recovering from crystal meth addiction, five beds for people seeking treatment for other addictions, four pre-treatment and six post-treatment beds. The centre has innovative protocols in medication use to support crystal meth treatment that can be applied provincially.
As clients will come from across the province to access services, they will be connected to followup care in their home communities once they complete treatment. The St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation was tasked with some fundraising to help cover the costs of furnishings before the centre opened.
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