The year 2006 was busy with many events and activities in the city of Weyburn, not least of which were three elections by all three levels of government, in addition to some major developments for the City, including unprecedented levels of growth.

The elections included a federal election held in late January, which saw Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki re-elected as a part of a minority Conservative government in Ottawa under Stephen Harper, the first for that party in 12 years.

This was followed shortly afterwards in February by the resignation of provincial MLA Brenda Bakken Lackey, which eventually brought about a byelection called for June 19.

The byelection brought a lot of attention from around the province, as all three party leaders were often seen in the riding, including Liberal leader David Karwacki who ran here as one of the candidates. Karwacki finished second, and the NDP's Graham Mickleborough was third, with Sask Party candidate Dustin Duncan winning with 49 per cent of the popular vote.

After a summer rest, the third election was the civic election, held on Oct. 25. While some communities had acclamations for their members of council, the City of Weyburn had elections for both mayor and council, with second-time challenger Debra Button beating out council veteran Ray Hamm and newcomer Bruce Croft to win the mayor's chair.

Incumbents Bill Rudachyk, Dick Michel, Rob Stephanson and Bill McKenzie won their seats back, along with newcomers Dave Craigen (who garnered the most votes of anyone on council) and Nancy Styles; the new council was sworn in on Nov. 13.

The news for the city also saw developments around the historic Souris Valley facility, as first the title for the property was handed over to the city just days before the byelection was held, then in September a sales deal for Souris Valley was ratified by council with the China-based company DistributionCanada.com Ltd. After the civic election, the new council gave the company a letter of reference as the partners went back to China to try to drum up more business interest in the Souris Valley facility.

In addition, 2006 was a year of unprecedented growth in residential lot sales and house-building, as nearly all of the city's serviced lots were sold, forcing the early opening of a new subdivision next to Assiniboia Park School in October; some lots from this subdivision have already been sold for new house construction in 2007.

City council is awaiting a report early in 2007 on what areas the city could expand to with more new serviced lots, with the South Hill a contender for some of those lots.

Meanwhile, a construction project which will be quite active through 2007 began near the end of the year, as Holy Family School Division held the ground-breaking ceremony for the addition and renovations to St. Michael School on Dec. 22, with construction underway the same week on the groundwork.

There were also some remarkable achievements in 2006 by individuals, including the pair of Colby Mainil and Michael Ehman, whose invention of a step-climbing wheelchair won acclaim first at the Southeast Regional Science Fair, then at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in May where they won a gold medal with a $1,500 prize, a prize of $1,000 for a project meriting a patent, and later the $4,000 Manning Innovation award which was presented by Rick Hansen in Calgary in September. Both are at university this year, and are reportedly seeking a patent for their device.

Some notable Weyburn residents passed on this year, including Weyburn historian and writer Isabelle Eaglesham at the age of 91; long-time Weyburn teacher Kate Myers at the age of 100; and the founder of the Turner Curling Museum, Don Turner, at the age of 86 years.