St. Gabriel School looks back on the month that was; to the month coming. Page 17
Hursh and Daniels weigh in on the federal brouhaha. Page 8
Another sign of a growing province: Saskatchewan needs a new area code SaskTel Minister Bill Boyd, T h u r s d ay, a n n o u n c e d that the Canadian Numbering Administrator ( CA N ) w h i ch a s s i g n s phone number blocks and area codes in the country has advised that Saskatchewan is running out of 306 phone number blocks and will need to add a new area code. This is a result of our growing population, an explosion of cellphone numbers and more competitive carriers operating in Saskatchewan. The CAN has indicated Saskatchewan’s 306 area code is expected to exhaust its supply of telephone numbers by May 2013. “This is one more sign of the tremendous growth our province is now enjoying,” Boyd said. “As prosperity brings more people and more companies to our province we are committed to changing and keeping pace with our new realities.” The Canadian Radio-television and Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s Commission (CRaTC), which provides the regulatory oversight for the process, will issue a Telecom Notice of Public Consultation. No decisions have yet been made on how the new area code will be implemented. A Relief Planning Committee will be formed, which will analyze all options and develop a recommendation for the implementation of a new area code in Saskatchewan. Included in the options analyzed by the committee will be a geographic split or a provincial overlay of a new area code. The new area code will be confirmed after the CRTC has approved the Relief Planning Committee’s recommendation. Following the CRTC approval, the implementation of a new area code will begin. Upon CRTC approval, SaskTel will follow the public
Ready for the show . . . New Creation Community Player’s Stephanie Lichkowski get the makeup just right on opening night, March 25 for their musical comedy, ‘Lucky Stiff’. No opening night nerves for cast notification process and will notify its customers of the impact.
“The implementation of a new area code will affect us all,” Boyd said.
and crew, everyone was excited to get going, and by the raves and reviews from folks in the know, the musical was a hilarious, laughfest. (Independent Photo by Kevin Brautigam)
“We would like to assure SaskTel customers that we will work to minimize the
impact and will provide detailed communications
p r i o r t o t h e ch a n g e s taking effect.”
Landis Co-op Board proposes merger The Landis Co-operative Association Limited held its 81st Annual General Meeting, Tuesday, March 29 at The Landis Community Complex. At that meeting there was a presentation made by the local board purposing a merger with Central Plains Co-op, formerly Rosetown and Eston Co-ops. The presentation included information about financials, forward progress and future plans for the Landis Co-op. It was announced that there will be an
information meeting to be held on Tuesday, April 5 at the Landis Community Complex. Following that meeting, a vote will take place on the merger proposal Tuesday, April 19, between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., once again at the Landis Community Complex. Members are encouraged to contact any of their local board members for further information. Prior to this announcement reports were presented by President Chandra Archdekin; the Manager’s
Report and Financial Report were presented by General Manager Ward Kewely. The Landis Co-op realized $6.6 million in sales for fiscal 2010, with over $108,000 being returned to the membership in the form of equity in cash. FCL District S11 Director, Beryl Bauer also made a presentation on behalf of FCL. The evening concluded with multiples of door prizes and distribution of equity cheques to the membership.
Landis Co-operative Association patrons discuss amongst themselves a proposed merger with Central Plains Co-op at the association’s 81st general meeting, March 29 at the Community Complex. (Photo for The Independent by Peter Ehry)
New grain terminal facility for area? A producer meeting was held in Biggar, March 23, to explore the prospects of constructing a producer owned grain terminal facility. A unanimous decision was made to form a steering committee to develop a proposal for the evaluation of the construction of a producer owned grain
terminal. A six member committee was formed to lead the initial stages of the project. The committee selected a founding name of “Community Terminal Committee -- CTC”. Wes Goring of Biggar was selected as an interim chair of the committee. In addition to Goring, Jim
Hammond, Rob Danychuk, Larry Antonenko, all of Biggar, and Craig Suter and Joe Scott of Landis, form the committee. Producers were invited to contribute seed money to the project. The seed money will be collected by the West Central Enterprise Region and placed in a restricted account to be used for
project development costs. Producers interested in the project are encouraged to provide $500 which will be used for project development. Provided the project proceeds to operational, the seed funds may be eligible to convert into shares at twice the original seed value. If the project does not advance
past the initial start-up phase, the money may be returned. The original seed money will not be cashed immediately. The seed funds will be collected only between March 23 and April 2, 2011. The funds will be held by the West Central Enterprise Region for the project.