While Estevan's emergency services personnel were dealing with Thursday's derailment, Saskatchewan's mayors were discussing the topic of rail safety at their annual meeting.
Held in Lloydminster, the Saskatchewan City Mayors' Caucus brought together the leaders of 16 cities to discuss everything from rail safety to the ongoing problem of infrastructure funding.
Mayor Roy Ludwig represented Estevan at the meeting and said the event was a productive one.
With respect to rail safety, Ludwig said the mayors held a lengthy discussion on what has become an important topic as more and more dangerous goods are being transported via rail.
"After what happened in Quebec everyone is on edge with all of the rail movements of dangerous goods in their communities," Ludwig said. "We are very fortunate that with the 25 to 30 trains through Estevan every day we haven't had any major incidents."
Ludwig said Mike Lowenger, the vice-president of operations and regulatory affairs for the Railway Association of Canada, was in attendance at the meeting. One of the topics they grilled Lowenger on was whether or not the various short line railways operating in the province have enough insurance in the event of a major disaster similar to the one in Lac Megantic, Que.
"There wasn't a real comfort level with these short lines with whether or not they have insurance in place and, No. 2, do they have people and equipment in place to deal with their potential disasters," Ludwig said. "That question is still kind of out there."
Not surprisingly, infrastructure was a major point of discussion at the meeting.
Ludwig said all of the mayors "can't say enough about how disappointed we are," in the Building Canada Fund, which was created by the federal government to help communities pay for major infrastructure projects.
"I know the federal politicians are trying to put the best spin on it, but at the end of the day, for (Saskatchewan) cities like ours with populations of under 100,000, we have to fight over $4 million a year for the next 10 years. $4 million isn't even a wastewater treatment plant," Ludwig said.
"We are left fighting over scraps and it's simply unacceptable."
Ludwig said infrastructure funding is a major issue throughout the province as communities deal with the issues that come with rapid growth. He estimates the infrastructure deficit in Saskatchewan is well into the billions.
"Here we are in growth mode trying to do our level best, and the province is helping out, but we do not see the feds coming to the table on this. In my opinion, I see the federal government balancing their books on the backs of the municipalities. They are taking monies away from the municipalities to balance their deficit and we are the ones that are suffering in the communities, because we have to continually raise taxes because we are not getting the support from the federal government that they should be giving us."
Ludwig added the mayors also had a discussion with a Canada Post representative to discuss their future plans. Locally, Ludwig said the City has concerns about Canada Post's lack of communication with residents on where they plan to locate mail kiosks as they move away from home delivery.
