The City of Prince Albert has put off raising fees at the Prince Albert Airport after COVID-19 delayed recent Airport Advisory Council (AAC) Meetings.

Airport Manager Corey Nygaard said most of those fees come from leases which are up for renewal at the end of the year. The ACC has already planned to review airport fees as part of the new Strategic Master Plan, but that plan won’t be ready until February 2021.

“We are recommending we wait for the Strategic Master Plan process to be complete before we change the fees,” Nygaard told city council during an executive committee meeting on July 13. “But due to the timing of some leases—coming due before that plan is (completed) in February 2021—we recommend, like we did in a previous report last year, that the leases are renewed for a year at current rates, and that they would be adjusted when we finally knew our new rates.”

A total of 17,615 passengers used the Prince Albert Airport in 2019, while aircraft landed or took off a total of 12,272 times. Those two areas accounted for $318,211 and $209,164 in airport revenues, respectively. Both were higher than budgeted revenue projections. Hanger and terminal revenue was also higher than expected in 2019, with $264,885 generated.

Despite those positives, the Prince Albert Airport has seen revenue fall every year since 2015. That decrease is largely due to downturns in the mining sector, and the merger of local air carriers, both of which reduced the number of scheduled flights.

Expenses, meanwhile, remain fixed, since the airport needs to be fully staffed even just for one flight.

“Recent reduced traffic provides no savings,” reads a report included in the meeting agenda package. “The range of costs from utilities to staffing have fixed or non-avoidable elements for all regional airports.”

The City of Prince Albert already provides nearly $300,000 for the airport from the General Reserve. The only other ways to offset revenue losses is to cut airport operation hours or increase fees.

The airport currently charges a landing fee of $4/1,000 kg. That’s lower than other regional certified airports in Brandon, Man and Lloydminster, but on par with La Ronge.

The PA airport also charges $3 per square meter of hanger space. The cost is $1.55 per square meter in Lloydminster and $1.40 in La Ronge. Figures for the Brandon airport were unavailable.

Green Party leader Naomi Hunter says she’s confident there is room for a third party in the Saskatchewan Legislature this fall, and her party is perfectly positioned to make that jump.

The small business owner, artist and environmental activist has been involved with the provincial Green Party since 1999. The party finished in fourth place with 1.8 per cent of the vote in the 2016 provincial election, but Hunter is confident they’ll improve on that in 2020.

“I always laugh when people say, ‘well, Saskatchewan is so right-wing and conservative,’” she said during an interview in Prince Albert on Thursday. “I go, ‘no it’s not. Saskatchewan votes wildly left and wildly right.’ People are more concerned with the issues than the parties. They are interested in the little guy, and that is exactly who the Green Party represents.”

Since taking over from former leader (and current deputy leader) Victor Lau in May, Hunter has worked hard to get a full slate of candidates. Green Party representatives competed in all but three Saskatchewan riding last election, one of which was in Nadine Wilson’s riding of Saskatchewan Rivers.

The party has 52 confirmed candidates so far, with several more in the process of filing their paperwork. One of those candidates is Sarah Kraynick, who Hunter hopes to see running against Nicole Rancourt in Prince Albert Northcote. The party has three candidates interested in running against Crown Corporations and SGI Minister Joe Hargrave in Prince Albert Carlton, but haven’t settled on one yet.

Regardless, Hunter promised the party would have a diverse, gender-balanced 61-cadidate slate in 2020.

“I feel that Saskatchewan people are eager to see people who they find relatable in the lej,” she explained. “We don’t need more lawyers and political scientists. I think I can run this province like my farm.”

Hunter has plenty of experience in the Prince Albert area. In addition to the family farm near Birch Hills, she also used to operate the Lakeland Art Gallery and Tea House near Christopher Lake. Although she now makes her home in Regina, Hunter still considers herself a northerner.

She said people in the north want politicians in Regina who understand their concerns, and one of the biggest is public health and access to clean drinking water in Indigenous communities.

The party also supports traditional environmental platforms like solar power and clean energy, which Hunter believes can eventually replace the oil and gas sector. She criticized the Saskatchewan Party’s handling of the net metering solar program, saying she’d rather support small solar companies than the give more tax incentives to the oil industry.

The provincial government launched a revamped version of the net metering program last November. It paid 7.5 cents/kWh to customers who generated excess energy over strong condemnation from solar companies would said it would kill the industry. The Saskatchewan Party had suspended the program two years before, saying there wasn’t enough interest.

“The Sask Party cut it and has tried in every which way to obfuscate the fact that these were small business people who were making a go of it, Hunter said. “Saskatchewan needs more (of those people) in the economy right now.”

This is Hunter’s first foray into provincial politics, but not her first campaign. Seeing her 19-year-old son and 20-year-old daughter inspired her to get into politics in 2019. She ran federally in Regina-Lewvan, where she finished in fourth place behind Conservative Warren Steinley with four per cent of the vote.

Hunter briefly considered running for leadership of the federal Green Party after Elizabeth May stepped down, but said Saskatchewan is where she feels she’s most needed. It’s also where she most wants to be.

“I thought it would be great for us to have someone from the prairies in the race, but then our provincial (Green Party) leader stepped down at the same time,” she said. “I had to really search my heart and I just thought, ‘what if all the bright lights keep running off to Ottawa and the West Coast. You know what? I think Saskatchewan needs me more.’”

The federal government projects a deficit of $343.2-billion in 2020-21 due an economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau told parliament the country faces “the most profound economic downturn since the great depression” during a fiscal and economic update on Wednesday. Morneau expects economic activity to decline by 6.8 per cent in 2020 before rebounding in 2021.

Despite the decline, Morneau told parliament the situation would be even worse if the government hadn’t stepped in to replace more than $40-billion in lost labour income. Without it, he argued, the economy would have declined even further.

“Some will criticize us on the cost of action. They’ll point to the size of our deficit in 2021,” Morneau said during the update. “It’s a testament to the shock that COVID-19 had on our economy, but our government knew that the cost of inaction would have been far greater.”

Provincial debt has outpaced federal debt by $225-billion over the last financial quarter, and the ratio of household debt to disposable income has increased by more than 175 per cent. Morneau said those statistics show just how large the crisis was. He said the federal government was uniquely suited to step in and take on additional financial burdens.

“Those who would have us do less ignore that without government action, millions of jobs would have been lost, putting the burden of debt on to families and jeopardizing Canada’s resilience,” he said. “At a time when Canadian workers and families are facing significant hardship, austerity and tightening our belt is not the answer.”

Morneau said that historically low borrowing rates will allow Canada to manage its debt and remain economically competitive. He added that the road to recovery is still uncertain, and would largely depend on whether the pandemic subsides in the coming months.

The government was predicting a $34.4-billion deficit prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the focus is on “holding things in place” as long as the pandemic continues.

“There are many Canadians getting back to work these weeks. There are many others who are still in a position where they can’t find jobs,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s what we’re focused on right now because we’re still very much in an urgent phase of this pandemic.”

Official opposition leader Andrew Scheer said Wednesday’s update paints “an extremely dire picture” for Canadians. He argued government should “unleash the private sector” by cutting taxes and eliminating red tape for small businesses, which will help Canada’s economy remain competitive.

“The biggest misconception right now on the economy is that if we simply rescind the restrictions and provinces reopen, our economy will come roaring back to life,” Scheer told parliament. “The reality is it will take leadership, big ideas, and a lot of hard work, but the Prime Minister’s track record proves that he cannot be trusted to leave Canada’s recovery.”

The $343.2-billion deficit means Canada’s national debt will pass the $1-tillion mark during the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Conservative Party shadow finance critic Pierre Poilievre said almost all the programs contributing to that deficit were necessary to help Canadians get through the pandemic. However, he also argued the federal government didn’t have a plan to boost the economy once the pandemic ended. Poilievre said the government should remove restrictions on support programs like the Canada Wage Subsidy, which would allow business owners time to rebuild after months of inactivity.

“We know that no nation can go on consuming without producing,” Poilievre told parliament. “The only way for us to continue to exist economically is to once again unleash the full and incomparable power of Canada’s 20-million person workforce (and) to let free the more than 1-million entrepreneurs and businesses that employ those workers.”

The federal government introduced a COVID-19 Economic Response Plan at the start of the pandemic. They’ve spent more than $230-billion as part of that plan, and offered up to $85-billion in tax and customs duty payment deferrals.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) also criticized the federal government’s COVID-19 spending. CTF federal director Aaron Wudrick said the government needs to either end or significantly reform the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, since it creates an unintended incentive for people to stay out of the workforce. He also worried to federal government didn’t have a strong enough plan to return the country to sound financial footing.

“Much of this spending was intended to temporarily address the COVID-19 crisis, but these programs are extremely expensive and unsustainable,” Wudrick said in a media release. “Minister Morneau needs to lay out a plan to turn off the taps, but he failed to do that.”

Canada saw an increase in rail accidents and rail fatalities in 2019, according to Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) statistics released on Tuesday.

A total of 1246 rail accidents were reported to the TSB last year, 77 more than 2018. The 2019 total is also well above the 10-year average of 1064 accidents per year. This is the third year in a row that rail accidents have increased, and the highest yearly total over the past 10 years.

Rail fatalities also increased from 57 in 2018 to 72 in 2019. Both of those numbers are below the 10-year average of 73. Fatalities at railway crossings increased from 19 in 2018 to 28 in 2019. Trespasser fatalities increased slightly from 34 in 2018 to 38 in 2019.

A Transport Canada spokesperson said the TSB data would be reviewed and incorporated into their inspection plans, but also defended Canada’s railway system as one of the safest in the world.

“Transport Canada has a robust oversight program to monitor railway companies for compliance with rules, regulations and standards through the conduct of approximately 33,000 railway safety inspections and audits every year,” reads an email from the spokesperson. “We inspect companies and road authorities to ensure they comply with the Railway Safety Act, and with the Act’s regulations, rules and engineering standards. This includes inspections of a railway’s operations, equipment, signals, infrastructure and safety management systems to determine whether they support safe railway operations.”

The main-track accident rate also increased, according to the TSB. In 2019, there were an average of 3.3 accidents per million main-track train miles. That’s up from 2.6 in 2018. The 10-year average is 2.3.

Freight trains accounted for roughly one-third of all rail accidents in 2019. Only three per cent of all accidents involved passenger trains. The majority of incidents (64 per cent) involved single cars, locomotives or other track units.

The number of serious injuries due to rail accidents decreased in 2019. There were 64 serious injuries last year, compared to 91 in 2018. However, both numbers are above the 10-year average.

The TSB issued rail safety advisories calling on Transport Canada to improve their train speed and track enhancement standards after a Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) train containing 104 tank cars filled with petroleum crude oil derailed just west of Guernsey, Sask.

Transport Canada responded by announcing new measures on April 3 that lowered the maximum speed trains can travel through metropolitan areas while carrying large quantities of crude oil or liquefied petroleum gas. Those measures also lowered the speed limit on any trains carrying those goods anywhere in the country during the winter months (Nov. 15 to March 15).

Additional ministerial orders directed railway companies to update their rules around track safety and the movement of dangerous goods.

Landlords can start applying to have tenants evicted for unpaid rent as of Aug. 4, according to an announcement from the provincial government on Monday.

That’s the date the government plans to end the temporary moratorium on residential evictions due to unpaid rent. Justice Minister and Saskatchewan Attorney General Don Morgan said economic conditions are improving across the province, and that means it’s time to start returning to normal.

“We’re aware that more and more people are going back to work all the time,” he told reporters on Monday. “We’re hopeful that it’s a sign the economy is coming back to life.”

Morgan stressed that the moratorium was always meant to be a rent deferral, and not a rent holiday. That means thousands of Saskatchewan renters could be on the hook for multiple months rent. Morgan expects tenants will be allowed to pay that amount in monthly installments, but said the final decision will be left to the Office of Residential Tenancies.

“My guess is they’ll want to sit down between the hearing officer and say, ‘okay, what’s normal? What’s good practice to do this?’” Morgan said. “(They’ll) maybe have some discussion with some of the landlords, and try and work their way through it so they get back into business without imposing undue hardship on tenants that may have bad circumstances.”

Morgan said they’re concerned about smaller Saskatchewan landlords who rely on renting their properties for their sole source of income. The Saskatchewan Landlord Association (SKLA), which represents more than 500 landlords across the province, estimates the pandemic has created more than $30-million in arrears since the start of April.

Morgan said he’s not sure how accurate that number is, but he’s still concerned many of them won’t be able to last much longer without being allowed to collect rent again.

“A person who’s retired and have got a duplex or something, and are living off that money, those are the ones who are being affected,” he said. “(Companies) like Boardwalk, they carry it. It’s the price of doing business.”

The SLA called for an end to the eviction moratorium last week. They issued a statement on Monday saying they were pleased with the government’s decision, and encouraged landlords and tenants to work together for a mutually agreeable solution.

Housing experts across the country have warned that there could be a sharp rise in homelessness as temporary policies like eviction protection come to an end. In Prince Albert, however, advocates say ending the moratorium won’t hurt low-income renters as long as other support programs like social assistance, unemployment insurance, or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) remain in place.

“There’s enough money around from CERB and other sources that people should be able to pay their rent,” River Bank Development Corp. general manager said Brian Howell, the general manager of not-for-profit housing provider River Bank Development Corp. “When the eviction stay was put in place, there really was a lot more COVID around, so nobody really wanted to see people moving too much for any reason. I think that’s more under control now too.”

River Bank operates roughly 90 affordable housing units around Prince Albert. Howell said they’ve had little problem collecting rent during the pandemic, but he realizes others haven’t been so fortunate.

“It’s life and death, especially for smaller landlords,” he said. “If you’re a larger landlord and have lots of units then some of the other units can carry the ones where you’re not getting payment, but for some smaller landlords, it puts them in a very difficult situation.”

The provincial NDP blasted the government’s decision to end the eviction ban. NDP justice critic Nicole Sarauer issued a statement saying the government has no plans in place to protect families who made personal and financial sacrifices during the pandemic.

“A spike in evictions as the economy re-opens and as parents prepare to send their kids back to school would be disruptive for the economy and for families,” the statement read. “The province needs to sit down with landlords and tenants and come back with a plan to ensure that we do not see families who have acted in good faith put out on the street.”

The residential eviction moratorium has been in place since March. The government followed with an eviction moratorium on commercial properties on June 5.

The eviction moratorium only covered renters who couldn’t afford to pay their rent. Tenants were still being evicted for violent behavior or destruction of property.

Prince Albert city council has voted against an amendment to delay increasing the deposit on new water utility accounts until after the provincial state of emergency ends.

Council voted 7-2 against the proposal, which would have temporarily stalled the City’s plan to increase deposits from $150 to $250. Couns. Charlene Miller and Terra Lennox-Zepp were the only ones to vote in favour of the delay.

Lennox-Zepp said the decision will negatively affect Prince Albert residents who are struggling to pay their bills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Having access to water is a pivotal part of containing this pandemic in our city and that there are people in our community who cannot afford an extra $100,” Lennox-Zepp said during the June 29 city council meeting. “It makes sense during a pandemic to wait on this, and not make it even more inaccessible for people to be able to have water.”

Mayor Greg Dionne isn’t worried that low-income Prince Albert residents will be able to pay their bills. He said residents he’s talked to are making more now than they did before COVID thanks to generous federal aid programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).  

“It’s hard for me to agree on a program to stop it during this (pandemic) when I know that millions of them are getting cheques from the federal government and actually doing better than they were before COVID,” Dionne told council. “Lots of people have been using COVID as an excuse, but life has to go on. COVID is going to be around for a while, so we might as well get used to it and change our lives.”

CERB provides $500 a week to residents who were forced to stop working because of the pandemic, as long as they made at least $5,000 within the previous 12 months. However, Lennox-Zepp said not all vulnerable residents can benefit from those programs. Saskatchewan is one of several provinces that does not allow residents to keep their CERB cheques while using social assistance.

Even without the pandemic, Lennox-Zepp said the City of Prince Albert doesn’t have enough data to support the $100 increase. She’s worried tenants and renters may be unfairly targeted while property owners are let off the hook.

“I’ve opposed this issue as it’s gone through the process,” she said. “We don’t even have the data to tell us what percentage of these arrears are the responsibility of tenants, and what percentage are property owners. We don’t have the data to make this decision.”

Water utility bills are the City’s highest outstanding balance. It’s also the City’s second largest fund.

According to a 2018 report, there is more than $1.4 million in unpaid utility bills from 4,657 accounts. The oldest unpaid account dates back to 2007. At the time, city administrators said 4,080 of those accounts were renters, while the remaining 557 were property owners. With property owners, those bills are simply added on to their property taxes.

During the meeting, Cheryl Tkachuk, the City’s financial director, said they have no up-to-date information on how many of those unpaid bills are from tenants or property owners, since their system doesn’t differentiate between the two. She also said that in her tenure as financial director, the city has never had to add an unpaid water bill on to someone’s property taxes.

“Usually that person is in property tax arrears as well,” she told council. “Usually it’s a whole financial (problem).”

Councillors who rejected the amendment and voted in favour of the $100 increase say it’s designed to protect taxpayers, who are on the hook for too many unpaid utility accounts.

Coun. Evert Botha was the proposal’s most vocal supporter. He and others say they don’t know when the provincial state of emergency will end, but taxpayers need protection right now.

“This is just us as council and administration drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘you know what? If you want to be a client of the water utility within the City of Prince Albert, instead of paying $150 deposit, it’s $250 deposit,’” Botha said during the meeting. “I do believe that is a fair increase.”

“We have a responsibility to protect the taxpayers, and we have millions of dollars that have just gone down the water pipes and down the sewer pipes over the years from unpaid utility bills,” Coun. Ted Zurakowski added. “We need to stop that flow. We cannot afford to provide everything to everyone. People need to be responsible for their utility bills.

“We heard from the director tonight that she has never heard of having to place outstanding utility bills on the property taxes of the homeowner, so then by process of elimination, where do you think the bulk of those outstanding bills come from? From the renters, so let’s be honest about that”

The proposal to raise the utility deposit passed first and second reading, but did not receive unanimous consent for the third reading. It will be back on the agenda for one final reading before it becomes law.

Through March, April and May, 262 new water utility accounts were created in Prince Albert. That amounts to around three or four per day.

The $100 deposit increase will not be applied to existing utility accounts.