Saskatchewan’s economy is struggling, of which there can be no doubt, after Finance Minister Kevin Doherty laid out the mid-year financial report, showing this year’s deficit will be $806 million, causing the government to undertake $217 million in “restraint measures”, as every department is cutting wherever they can.
In spite of this situation, there are signs of life in the Weyburn region, with indications that developments are on the way.
In the city, preparations are underway for a new retail outlet for Giant Tiger in the City Centre Mall, filling the large vacant retail space that has been empty since the Co-op moved their Home Centre store out.
This week is the start of a series of town hall meetings for a new company, Comtrax Logistics Solutions, starting in Regina and Ogema on Dec. 8, Weyburn and Carlyle on Dec. 9, Radville and Estevan on Dec. 12, Oungre and Montmartre on Dec. 13, and Milestone and Corning on Dec. 14. Their proposal is to set up a commodities hub in the Weyburn area on the Soo Line railroad to handle shipments of grain, crude oil and other commodities, and the group is looking to gauge the level of interest in the region for such a development.
This initiative has tremendous potential to enhance and increase the local economy in the long term, particularly because it is allowing for a diversity of commodities for both export and import, and makes good use of the highway and railroad infrastructure that is in place already.
Then word came out recently of the possibility for a new refinery to process oil from the Bakken field, with the capacity to process 40,000 barrels of oil per day.
The proposal is being made by an American oil company, Quantum Energy, which plans on also developing projects for the Bakken on the U.S. side of the border, and set up a wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, Dominion Energy Processing Group.
The company is planning to locate the refinery adjacent to Crescent Point’s oil-gathering plant in the Viewfield area near Stoughton, and this has the town and RM very excited for the possibilities that this development might bring.
The fact that these developments are arising now, when the province is struggling through a difficult time, shows that Saskatchewan is and continues to be resilient and innovative, as this province has always been. This was how the province was developed by pioneers, how they made it through the Great Depression and the recession of the 1980s, and how we will now move forward. — Greg Nikkel
