Throne speech short on Prince Albert mentions

Prince Albert was mentioned sparingly in this year’s provincial throne speech, but Mayor Greg Dionne contends that there’s still enough in there for the city.

On Wednesday, Lieutenant-Governor General Vaughn Schofield delivered the throne speech amidst heightened security in the Saskatchewan Legislature in Regina. In it were scant mentions of the city – most notably the province’s re-iteration of its commitment to being a partner in a potential second bridge project in Prince Albert, should it go the public-private partnership route.

“Usually, the main speech you want to hear is in the spring when they bring down the budget. This is an interim measure, to get them through the fall session, and what we’re more interested in is when the budget comes down in the spring,” Dionne said.

“And that’s where there’ll hopefully be more issues for our city and region.”

Prince Albert’s two MLAs are downplaying the scant mention of Prince Albert.

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While Prince Albert Carlton MLA Darryl Hickie concedes that there is the one specific mention of Prince Albert, he said it doesn’t mean that the throne speech is about individual communities.

“If you look at the body of the speech from the throne, it talks about many incentives, many opportunities across the entire province for advancement across different ministries,” he said.

For Hickie, incentives such as revenue sharing were mentioned in the throne speech that he said Prince Albert will benefit from.

“So, if you were no name every community that’s benefitting from the incentives we’ve listed in the throne speech, it would take the better part of a day to get that done, if you were to highlight all those individual [communities] and how much they’re getting,” he said.

With Prince Albert not being attached to many of the programs and incentives mentioned in the throne speech, it could mean that there is an added bonus on the city to attract provincial dollars.

Hickie said it’s the local municipalities, rural and urban, that are always engaging with the ministers, offices and their staff, and the bureaucracy.

“We hear lots of asking for things, for specific communities, yes, but the bottom line of the government is to provide an overall 50,000 foot kind of level, and that’s where we’re at right now. So, those communities have to re-engage and see what dollars are available for them.”

And Prince Albert Northcote MLA Victoria Jurgens sees “Prince Albert” throughout the throne speech all the same when she reads it.

She said the city is all throughout the speech because post-secondary institutions are located in the city, and because of mentions of programs that operate in Prince Albert, such as Habitat for Humanity.

Interest piqued by what’s not in the speech

The topic that intrigued Dionne most was one that was not in the throne speech.

He is interested in the possibility of private, direct-pay MRI imaging clinics coming to Saskatchewan – and to Prince Albert, down the road. Premier Brad Wall has recently touched on the topic.

“If they are going to allow private clinics, if they’re going to allow it, I would think there would be some interest groups that would be interested in building one in Prince Albert to service Prince Albert and the North.”

Jurgens explained that Minister of Health Dustin Duncan is now looking at the possibility and implications of allowing private imaging diagnostic clinics.

“We’re way back from deciding what to do. We’re looking at the input of the people, what the implications are, so there is no decision made. We’re not even close to a decision.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames