review
weyburn Vol.114 No. 42 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan Wednesday, October 16, 2024 - 10 Pages
Weyburn Eagles wrap up season
Robillard’s photos featured
WCS Eagles advance to semi finals against Moose Jaw.
Marianne Robillard’s photos were selected for the WCU 2025 calendar. Page 10
Page 7
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Candidates discuss issues at Weyburn Chamber forum
Breaking ground for ‘Spark Cinema’ project
Photo – Sabrina Kraft
Members of the Weyburn Theatre Co-operative committee gathered with shovels in hand for a ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday to officially start construction on Weyburn’s new theatre. From left are Laila Bader, Sean Purdue, Ryan Janke, Corey Morrissette and Brett Ferguson.
Ground-breaking held for new theatre project The board of directors of the Weyburn Theatre Co-operative, along with representatives of the Weyburn Oilwomen, Weyburn Credit Union, the City of Weyburn and DSI Contracting all gathered at the future site of Weyburn’s new theatre on Third Street on Thursday for a ground-breaking ceremony. T h e c o - o p e r a t ive ’s board members have been working diligently with their design and construction team and engineered drawings are nearing
completion. Once engineered plans are complete, the construction team will be seeking bids from subtrades to finalize costs. With the ground-breaking held, work crews will proceed with the foundation work, which includes a significant number of concrete piles. The committee wants the public to realize there is a good chance they will have to pause after this stage is complete until funds are in place to proceed with the rest of the project. “What we do know is
that construction costs are going to be meaningfully higher than what we originally estimated nearly three years ago,” said Sean Purdue, treasurer of the board. “While we don’t have the updated figures, we are anticipating that we will need to raise an additional $1 million before this project can be completed.” Those wishing to donate can e-Transfer weyburntheatre@gmail.com or contact the group at that address. PayPal payments are also an op-
Northern Lights highlighted by a meteor
tion by visiting www. weyburntheatre.com and clicking on the ‘donate now’ button. There is a display at the Weyburn Credit Union of one of the reclinerstyle theatre seats which will be in the new theatre, and there is information on donating towards the project. We y b u r n T h e a t r e Community Service Cooperative is a non-profit o rga n i z a t i o n , f o r m e d with the exclusive goal of bringing the movies back to the City of Weyburn.
Photo – Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca
The display of Northern Lights had a surprise visitor on Thursday night, as a meteor streaked to the ground, in this view taken from the bridge on the Weyburn Golf Course road, looking towards the city.The meteor was near enough for the photographer to hear it crackling as it fell.
By Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca Four of the five candidates running for the seat of Weyburn-Bengough presented their stance on a variety of issues, at the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce’s election forum on Wednesday evening at the Weyburn Legion. Taking part in the forum were Mike Weger for the Saskatchewan Party; North Hunter for the Saskatchewan Green Party; Rose McInnes for Sask. United Party, and Andrew Shanaida of the Buffalo Party. Seth Lendrum of the NDP did not attend. A number of questions were posed from the chamber related to business and the economy, and some presubmitted questions from the public were posed, some related to youth interests. The Chamber started taking questions from the floor, but ended at the previously determined cutoff time of 8:40 p.m. with a number of people lined up wanting to pose questions. Moderator Monica Osborn noted they ran out of the allotted time, which upset a number of people waiting to ask questions. She said the public had until 9 p.m. to talk one-on-one with the candidates if they wished. Among the chamber’s questions were issues of nuclear and alternative-energy power sources, and where the various parties stood. On nuclear power, Weger noted that Saskatchewan has one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium, and they have plans to introduce small modular nuclear reactors. McInnes said Sask. United has a “Sask first” policy for businesses, and said nuclear energy development is still a long way from reality in Saskatchewan. Hunter said the Greens are very concerned about the impact nuclear reactors would have in using up water supplies, which would in turn be a problem to agricultural producers in this province if their water supply was put in jeopardy. Shanaida said Saskatchewan needs to be smart about nuclear energy, particularly for products that can’t be produced in this province, and planning where the reactors are to go is also critical. In regard to other forms of energy, Hunter said, “It’s time for a new green deal for Saskatchewan,” and one aspect of this is to make sure all vehicles in this province are hybrid, with a goal to having them all be electric. She also feels that resurrecting public transport modes, such as train service and the STC bus service, would also help provide transportation and people won’t need to worry about rising gas prices at the
pumps. For the Buffalo Party, Shanaida said they would question where the push is coming from towards such energy sources as wind and solar energy. “I’m not saying all these options shouldn’t be looked at, but we have a lot of resources that are being suppressed,” he said. Weger pointed out that the Clean Electricity policy of the federal Liberals and NDP is unrealistic for Saskatchewan, as they want all current electricity-generating plants that use coal and natural gas to be shut down by 2035. He noted the severe economic hurt this would cause this province, with losses of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. Currently 86 per cent of the electricity generated is by coal and hydro, and SaskPower is working with independent power producers to produce electricity through wind and solar projects, Weger added. McInnes said wind farms, for one, are detrimental to the environment and are not efficient, as can be seen in Alberta where they ran into a lack of power in their grid because of a reliance on wind energy. “I’m an environmental technologist, and I find wind and solar is the largest farce,” she said, noting wind in particular takes out valuable farm land to put up “monstrosities” wind turbines. In discussing how to attract economic investment to the constituency, Weger touched on issues related to Weyburn’s proposed wind turbines. “Your local MLA must have the ability to look at all options, and they can’t be influenced by those who yell the loudest. You have to do the work and research the facts. An MLA has to be willing to compromise and put their beliefs aside when they are committed to represent all residents,” he said. McInnes said the Sask. United Party wants to establish a Sask First Bank that would encourage investment in developments, and support agriculture and oil and gas without relying on Ottawa. Hunter replied that the emphasis should be on education and health care, to ensure there are educational opportunities to train and learn here and to have good health, and lower high school dropout rates. “A healthy worker leads to a healthy economy,” she said. The Buffalo Party would work to create jobs and foster economic growth, by reducing red tape that keeps businesses and industries away, said Shanaida, and thereby make Saskatchewan the best place to invest and do business with.