The provincial government brought down what might be termed as a “good news-bad news” type of budget last week, with some good news coming to Weyburn, and to many sectors around the province, but offsetting that was a lack of news, which would be the bad news of this document.
On the good side, Weyburn received positive news regarding their new elementary school project, which will see the removal of the former Weyburn Junior High and construction of a new, modern elementary school, with the City of Weyburn building a new recreation and cultural centre. These two facilities will be good for the school division and for providing the children with access to a community facility that will have many uses and benefits for the entire city and area.
It will be sad to lose the former three elementary schools, namely Queen Elizabeth, Haig and Souris, with Souris being in perhaps the best condition of all three of those schools with many upgrades done over the years.
The new school will be state-of-the-art, and will be a modern, open design, and it will serve the community for many years to come.
Some of the highways work announced in this budget is also good news for the southeast, although passing lanes are going to be a very poor substitute for twinning Highway 39. The costs of this would be high, to be sure, but that didn’t seem to be an issue when twinning Highway 11 or other highways in the Saskatoon region. It’s accepted that this is a long-term project, but it should be done right, particularly as the large truck traffic going to and coming from the U.S. is only going to grow in the coming years.
The aspect of the budget which is of great disappointment to Weyburn and area is once again no word about the acute-care hospital, which the community has been fundraising for and waiting for long before any ideas came up about closing the junior high or building a new elementary school, as good as this project will be.
The need for a new hospital has been acutely felt for much longer, and has been planned for in much more detail, with fundraising through the Weyburn and District Hospital Foundation going on for literally years — and once again, other projects take priority, including the new facility in North Battleford, and the Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon. This is not to detract from the value of either of these facilities, but the fact is, the people of Weyburn have been waiting for a very long time now. When will it be our turn for a proper medical facility?
