Paying a toll

Jason Kerr
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Paying a toll

There could be a cost to using Prince Albert’s only bridge in the future, as city councillors look at creating ways to fund the construction of a second one.

On Tuesday, Ward 1 Coun. Charlene Miller brought forward a motion asking for a report on the feasibility of implementing a toll on Diefenbaker Bridge.

Once collected, the toll funds would go towards the construction of another bridge in the city. The possibility of providing free bridge access for Prince Albert residents will also be considered.

“I think that this toll will make the province and the federal government see that we’re actually trying to do our part,” Miller said during the meeting.

Miller added that she hoped the two levels of government would take the project more seriously if they saw the city’s efforts.

However, there were some concerns from city councillors who felt Prince Albert residents were getting a raw deal.

Ward 7 Coun. Dennis Nowoselsky said he thought residents were already paying for too many services, while Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp raised concerns about residents in her ward who cross the bridge for work, school and other services.

Ward 8 Coun. Ted Zurakowski also wondered how the implementation of a toll would affect the city’s relationship with the surrounding rural municipalities.

Miller said she’s heard those concerns, but respectfully disagrees.

“There are residents who have phoned me. They want a second bridge, but they don’t’ want to pay for it,” she said. “I understand that, and I get that, but if you’re going to use the bridge, I think that you should be paying for the bridge as well.”

Any decision on whether to implement a toll is still a long ways off. City councillors will still have to wait for administrators to look into the matter, and no completion date was set.

Despite her desire to move the issue forward, Miller remains skeptical that an actual toll will ever be put in place.

“Probably not, but you’ve got to try,” she said when asked if the issue would gain any traction with city council. “Every session I believe has to try (to fund a new bridge), and this is our kick at it.”

@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca

Becoming a survivor

Jason Kerr
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Becoming a survivor

On an early April day in 2016, Candy Braaten was on her way to a doctor’s appointment.

She was concerned about a lump she’d just found on her body, and was about to undergo a mammogram and a biopsy. A doctor had told her 80 per cent of these lumps were benign, so she wasn’t prepared for what she heard.

The biopsy report came back positive. Braaten had breast cancer.

“I was pretty shocked,” she remembered. “Really shocked. I thought, ‘I’m young. I’m very healthy. I’m very active. I watch what I eat.’ I was really in shock.”

Despite being jolted into a new and unwanted world, Braaten approached the next few months with determination. She wasn’t the first member of her family to have cancer, and if they could beat it, then she would too.

More than a year later, she was in Prince Albert wearing a yellow survivor’s shirt, walking in her first ever survivor’s lap at the Relay for Life.

“I had thought I might feel a lot of emotions, like crying … but actually I felt really happy to be in this big group of yellow survivors,” she said. “It was an honour to be one of them.”

For Braaten, fighting cancer was as much a mental battle as a physical one. Even though she had strong support from her family and friends, feelings of isolation started to creep in.

She overcame those feelings through social media, setting up a Facebook page to help friends and family members stay updated on her progress. The changes worked, but Braaten still remembers those early trials.

“Even though you’re not the only one with breast cancer, you tend to feel like you’re the only one going through it,” she explained.

The importance of maintaining family connections and friendships during treatment is a common theme among survivors.

For the rest of this story, please see the June 6 online or print edition of the Daily Herald.

Relay for Life beats fundraising goal

Jason Kerr
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Relay for Life beats fundraising goal

Despite poor overnight weather, organizers say the 2017 Prince Albert Relay for Life was a rousing success.

The annual overnight walk raised $124,934 for cancer research, which was just ahead of the $120,000 goal. Roughly 190 survivors walked the victory lap at Harry Jerome Track in Prince Albert, while more than 1,100 luminaries were lit in honour or in memory of someone who had cancer.

Organizer Charlene Bernard said it was great to see such strong support from the community.

“Friday night was a testament to the symbolism in Relay for life,” Bernard wrote in an email. “Staying up all night is hard and it takes endurance. So does the Cancer Survivor’s journey.”

 

Baird lauds Scheer and Dief during stop in Prince Albert

Jason Kerr
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Baird lauds Scheer and Dief during stop in Prince Albert

Former cabinet minister John Baird has his disagreements with Andrew Scheer, but that hasn’t stopped him from throwing his full support behind the newly elected Conservative Party leader.

Baird, a longtime Ottawa MP who served as the Minster of the Environment, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure under Stephen Harper, said he was “very comfortable” with Scheer’s leadership, as well as the overall direction of the party.

“I think everybody is just happy the leadership race is over with and we’ve got a leader that people are rallying behind,” Baird said during a stop in Prince Albert on Saturday. “Whether it’s western populists, social conservatives, economic conservatives like myself, or Red Tories, it’s going to bring everyone together.

Since announcing his bid for leadership of the Conservative Party last September, Scheer was often dubbed “Stephen Harper with a smile.” Critics of the new leader focused in on his social conservatism, but Baird said voters shouldn’t worry about the party moving further to the right.

“I’m pretty conservative, but I’m not a social conservative. I’m pro-choice. I’m one of the few (Conservative MP’s) who voted for gay marriage 12 years ago, and I’m very comfortable with Andrew as a leader,” Baird said. “On day one he said he wouldn’t revisit abortion or gay marriage, which in 2017 I think is a smart decision.”

Barring any future by-elections, the Conservatives will enter the next federal campaign in 2019 with 99 seats. Baird said he thinks the party is in a good position to form another government, pointing out that the Liberals had only 34 seats before they won the last election.

“Sometimes leadership campaigns can be really divisive and there are deep wounds, but I don’t think there are (any),” he said. “Everyone seems pretty happy.”

Prince Albert MP Randy Hoback joined Baird during his visit on Saturday. Like Baird, Hoback was happy with the party’s direction, calling Scheer a “bright, young leader,” who MPs were “excited to get behind.”

“I thought there were areas where it would be tough for him to gain support, and he not only gained it, he actually grew in those areas,” Hoback said. “I think he’ll grow even further as we get into election time.”

Hoback predicted the party would see gains coast-to-coast in the next election, particularly in Quebec, thanks to Maxime Bernier’s rising profile. He also predicted a Conservative sweep in his home province.

“We have 14 ridings in Saskatchewan. I think they’re all going to go Conservative the next time around,” he said.

Baird on Diefenbaker: “Larger-than-life character”

While Baird did attend some party events while in Saskatchewan, his main purpose was to visit the home of one of his political heroes.

Baird is a self-proclaimed huge fan of former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, and was eager to visit the restored Diefenbaker House on 19th Street West.

“I think he was so ahead of his time as a civil libertarian,” Baird said of Diefenbaker, who won federal elections as the Progressive Conservative leader in 1957 and ’58. “The Bill of Rights was a real landmark in Canada.”

Baird has been a fan of Diefenbaker since he was a boy, calling him a “transformational” leader who helped turn Western Canada into a conservative stronghold.

He lauded Diefenbaker for his support of individual rights, like his stance against apartheid in South Africa, and expressed sadness that the legacy of Canada’s 13th Prime Minister isn’t celebrated more often.

“He was the last of the old-time politicians,” Baird said. “He went and toured the country by train and gave off the cuff speeches. He was an original, larger-than-life character.”

@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca

Consolidation and review coming for Rivier

Jason Kerr
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Consolidation and review coming for Rivier

A year after joining the Prince Albert Catholic School Division, more changes are coming to Blessed Marie Rivier.

In May, the division board decided to consolidate Grade 9-12 students at Rivier with nearby St. Mary High School, effective at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. Grade 7-8 students will also make the move to St. Mary, although they’ll continue to function as a different school for at least one year.

Lorel Trumier, the Prince Albert Catholic School Division’s director of education, said the school’s already small enrolment was in decline, which made it too costly to continue operating under the current system.

“The two aspects of that together, make it very difficult and cost-prohibited to continue to operate Blessed Marie Rivier the way we have been,” she explained during an interview on Friday. “With low and declining (enrolment) … we had to determine how we could address the programing (needs).”

The change comes just one year after Rivier Academy joined the Catholic school division as Blessed Rivier Marie Catholic School.

Since that change, Trumier said they’ve seen a number of Blessed Marie Rivier students leave to enroll at St. Mary.

Roughly 30-35 Grade 7-8 students will remain in what Trumier called the “school within a school” that will continue operations. Another 30 students enrolled in Grade 9-12 for the next school year will join St. Mary

St. Mary principal Mark Phaneuf will oversee both schools. Trumier said they have had positive feedback from Rivier families making the move to St. Mary. Tours have been set up to help students get used to their new schools.

In the meantime, school division administrators and board members will conduct a review to determine whether the consolidation will become permanent.

“What the board would like to do is take the review process to discern the most affective way to address programming needs for students,” Trumier said. “Hopefully in the next six months they will have a decision made in terms of how that could look in the fall of 2018.”

Elements that will be under review include transportation, and the allocation of staffing and other resources.

“The board obviously, after very careful consideration, had to look at some operational changes,” she said.

Trumier added that not all of Rivier’s eight teachers and two support staff will make the move to St. Mary, but the won’t be cut loose either. All will be offered jobs with schools in the Catholic school division.

“We do have a need for every staff member, and all of them have been assured that they have a position within the school division.”

@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca

Gutsy Walk returns

Jason Kerr
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Gutsy Walk returns

After a one-year hiatus, a yearly Prince Albert fundraiser is making a return.

The annual Gutsy Walk, put on by Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, was last held in 2015, but was cancelled the next year due to a lack of volunteers.

The 2015 event raised more than $12,000 for research and programing, and the organization is hoping to draw on that support again in 2017.

“This year we had some volunteers who were willing to put themselves out there and make it work, so we are giving it another try,” said Carol-Lynne Quintin, the organization’s Saskatchewan Development Coordinator.

Canada has one of the highest rates of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in the world. Roughly 1 in 50 Canadians are living with the diseases, including a large number of first and second-generation immigrants who have no previous history of illness.

An estimated 8,000 Saskatchewan residents live with the diseases, which can affect a variety of internal organs, particularly the large intestine.

“We know there are a lot living (with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis) in Prince Albert and the north,” Quintin said. “We don’t want to not have a walk representing that portion of the province.”

For the rest of this story, please see the June 3 online or print edition of the Daily Herald

NDP vows to restore service

Jason Kerr
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NDP vows to restore service

While the STC is gone for now, it could be back in the future. On Wednesday, Saskatchewan NDP leader Trent Wotherspoon said his party would restore service if elected, and Prince Albert Northcote NDP MLA Nicole Rancourt backed up that promise.

“The NDP will bring back a transportation service for the province when we’re back in government, because we realize that this is such an important, essential service, for our province,” said Rancourt, who was also on hand to witness the final STC bus departure.

Rancourt said the service was vital for rural Saskatchewan residents seeking medical treatment and other services, and criticized the government for its spending priorities.

“We know that it’s a service that the government has to subsidize, but that’s because it’s a service that’s provided to individuals, and this exact service … is offered in bigger cities because they know the importance of allowing residents to get to different locations,” she said.

Rancourt also questioned whether the government had fully considered the effect that shutting down the STC would have in other areas, like health and social services.

“They say it’s going to cost less, not providing this, but I don’t think that they’re really looking into the impact that it’s going to have on the increased costs for health and social services and justice and all the different other agencies that now are going to have to step up to help provide some kind of transportation allowance.”

@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca

Last trip a somber one for STC supporters

Jason Kerr
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Last trip a somber one for STC supporters

It’s just after 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, and although the sun is still shining, the mood around the Prince Albert STC terminal is a somber one.

Only moments earlier the last bus out of Prince Albert rumbled through an open gate and departed down 15th Street West towards Hudson Bay.

More than a dozen STC supporters are still lingering around the parking lot, having just come from inside the terminal.

A loud horn blast as the last bus drove by for the last time is one of the few good memories they’ll take home.

“These cuts just hit the most marginalized (and) the poor,” says one supporter, Prince Albert resident Virginia Kutzan. “They’re senseless cuts.”

Since announcing the cuts during the delivery of their provincial budget in March, the Saskatchewan Party has maintained that the STC is an unaffordable service.

According to the government, funding the STC for the next five years would require a subsidy of more than $85 million. The government also maintained that only two of the service’s 27 routes were profitable.

That made the STC an expendable service, as Finance Minister Ken Doherty tried to trim the province’s deficit. Even with the cuts, the Saskatchewan government will still see a projected shortfall of $696 million.

However, STC supporters like Kutzan say the government doesn’t realize just how many problems they’re causing for vulnerable residents, particularly in the north.

“Just how sad it is to end this era of public transportation of service for our people here in Saskatchewan,” she says when asked what was going through her head as the last bus rolled by. “Especially up north, to say nothing about the patients who have to undergo chemotherapy and who rely on the bus (and) the seniors who rely on the bus.”

There are a few tears as supporters start to drift away. In a few hours, the only thing left will be an empty building, with a closure notice taped on the inside windows.

Members of the media were prevented from entering the terminal to speak with passengers before boarding on Wednesday night. The three security guards present said they had not been told why media were not allowed inside, only that the order came down “from Saskatoon.”

Bringing back the bison

Jason Kerr
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Bringing back the bison

Anthony Blair Dreaver Johnston has overseen numerous special initiatives and projects for Mistawasis First Nation, but this one is different.

In September, the Saskatchewan First Nation will officially join the Buffalo Treaty, a historic agreement between First Nations groups in Canada and the United States to conserve and restore the bison population in North America.

It’s a long process, and for Johnston, it has to start with the youth.

“We’re trying to build a solid foundation for the future, and so in this way, the children, the youth of today, have a strong basis to further build our nation,” he said.

As part of that process, Johnston and four members of the Saskatchewan chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society held a Youth for Bison day at Chief Mistawasis School.

The goal was to help re-establish the importance of bison in the public consciousness. Johnston said it’s easy to forget that bison still exist, but if First Nations people can reconnect with them, they might learn something about their past.

“We have lessons from out past,” he said. “By bringing back the bison, it may help us revitalize those values for today.”

For the rest of this story, please see the June 2 online or print edition of the Daily Herald.

Plastic out and paper in

Jason Kerr
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Plastic out and paper in

Changes are coming to Prince Albert’s yard waste collection policy as the city tries to spend less money and become more environmentally friendly.

Starting on July 1, the city will stop collecting plastic bags for yard waste collection and instead, only accept compostable yard waste paper bags and securely tied bundles of branches.

Mohammad Kraishan, Operations Manager for the City of Prince Albert, said the change will save roughly $50,000 due to the elimination of the expensive debagging process.

“If we continue to collect the yard waste in plastic bags, then we will have to debag it in order to make the final compost product usable,” he explained. “If we were to debag it, that ($50,000) would be the cost.”

Plastic bags carrying yard waste caused problems because they didn’t degrade properly, meaning any compost would still contain a small element of plastic. That plastic makes the compost useless for other purposes, such as landfill cover at the city dump.

“It’s really hard to get rid of all the plastic in the compost,” Kraishan said.

Prince Albert isn’t the first city to stop collecting plastic bags. Regina, Windsor, Hamilton and Toronto are just two of the cities that made the switch, and so far the results have been good.

For the rest of this story, please see the June 1 online or print edition of the Daily Herald.

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