Premier Brad Wall said the provincial government has not forgotten Estevan and the growing pains the city is facing due to the ongoing resource boom in southeast Saskatchewan.
The members of city council and senior City staff met with the premier Thursday at Spectra Place. During the meeting the City was able to brief Wall on the challenges presented by the increase in economic activity and plans for the future.
"We talked about infrastructure and we talked about funding," Wall said. "I asked them what their priorities (are) and their priorities are the basics - roads and replacing cast iron, and we are going to be there for those projects and we talked about housing, which is obviously a huge issue."
Wall said the eyes of Canada, and in some cases the world, are on Estevan because of the carbon capture and sequestration project ongoing at the Boundary Dam Power Station. The first of its kind in the world, the CCS project is of major interest to countries that rely on coal for power generation. A number of people throughout the world have already toured Boundary Dam, the latest, Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota who visited the site on Thursday. He also mentioned the ongoing oil activity, which is highlighted by the Bakken oil play, has also gained international interest.
However, as much as Estevan has benefitted from the boom, it has placed a strain on roads and infrastructure throughout the city. As well, housing has become something of a nightmare with the vacancy rates plummeting to zero per cent and rents skyrocketing to an average of over $1,100 a month, the highest in Saskatchewan.
Wall said the province is aware of the issues in Estevan, more so now after last week's meeting, and is committed to working with the City to get past these hurdles.
"We have 40 per cent of the oil that the province produces coming out of this region so we have to reinvest in the infrastructure," he said. "We've tried to make Estevan issues a high priority for the government. Our MLAs have been working on that as well and I hope that is seen in things like the Energy Institute, the government's largest project with respect to clean coal at Boundary Dam. I hope it's evident in terms of the government's commitment on 47 and the (heavy truck) bypass."
Wall was asked about whether or not the province might consider extra funding to cities dealing with challenges due to growth. North Dakota recently announced a round of payments for communities that have been trying to keep up with the increase in activity due to the Bakken oil play. For example Crosby, which has a population of just over 2,000 people, received $5 million.
He noted the province already does have a revenue sharing program that is based on population. In 2013 Estevan received $2.3 million, which is up from around $800,000 when the Sask. Party took office in 2007.
"It's not fair to say thanks for the royalties and not reinvest in the infrastructure that enables that region to contribute like they are," Wall said. "I know if you live in Estevan you'd say we'd like to have even more, but when you look at these things whether it is the energy institute, clean coal project or even help out in the facility that we are standing in today, we are going to be there and we need to be there."
On the topic of housing, Wall said the government is continuing to work with the City and have looked at ideas such as incentives to try and stimulate the building of rental properties.
"We just need to keep working on it and find out some innovative ways to help Estevan deal with what can be a barrier to growth," he said. "The challenges we face are not the challenges of decline, they are the challenges of growth. I'd rather have the challenges of growth than the other but they are challenges.
"Estevan might have provided the clearest example of what those are. If what we are doing so far hasn't had the results that we would like to see, then we need to get innovative and bear down and find out what might work.
"We have some incentives on a per unit basis on rental properties. We have a tax incentive that we introduced two budgets ago that we introduced for rental properties. We have the government directly involved in affordable housing in building units; that is an option and we may have to look that one a little more carefully because the developers are not yet responding here. They are responding to the need for condos and single family but we need to move on (rental properties)."
Councillor Greg Hoffort said he and his fellow councillors were pleased with the oppourtunity to sit down with Wall and discuss the issues facing Estevan.
"It's wonderful the economic activity we have in our community but they do come with the challenges," Hoffort said. "One of those is our roads and we did take the oppourtunity to discuss that. It's no secret in our town that the roads need work and we are attempting to address that locally. We shared that concern with the premier and he was receptive to that."
Hoffort said there were no financial commitments on roads but called the meeting a step in the right direction.
