P.A. Mayor eager to meet with finance minister

Saskatchewan’s Finance Minister will address the Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

Kevin Doherty can also count on some questions from Prince Albert’s Mayor during his visit to Prince Albert.

“The new Liberal government has suggested that they are going to abandon or re-structure the P3 model, what is that going to do to the Province of Saskatchewan with their plan to look at the new bridge, which will have to be a P3, and the hospital which will also have to be a P3,” said Greg Dionne.

Dionne said he would also like to clear up some confusion on when Prince Albert’s new hospital might be coming.

“You know you talk to some people and they don’t think we will get a new hospital for another five to eight years. (The Provincial Government) announced that our hospital would be built after North Battleford, well they haven’t even started work in North Battleford,” he said.

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Dionne added that there is no reason why the government cannot undertake the construction of both hospitals at once, given that construction is currently underway on the new Children’s hospital in Saskatoon.

On the topic of who should pay for the new hospital, Dionne said he would still prefer the government fund the entire costs of the project given that the hospital would be servicing all of northern Saskatchewan.

“By upgrading our hospital to a provincial hospital and we get more specialists here, it will take some of the strain off the University Hospital in Saskatoon where the majority of patients get sent to,” he said.

As of Thursday, the Victoria Hospital was still at capacity in its inpatients units, but “Code Burgundy” had been lifted, in other words the hospital was no longer experiencing over capacity.

Dionne said it is always a concern when the hospital is at overcapacity but adds it is also due to some positive change.

“As we get more specialists moving to our city and working out of the hospital then we are no longer transferring as many patients; they used to go to Saskatoon,” he said.

The topic of a tax levy has come up a few times during discussion about a new hospital.   Dionne said if the province still demands that the health region pay 20 per cent of the cost, the City of Prince Albert would be a huge part of the $100 million price tag.

“I told the government before that before I agreed to that I would ask the people,” said Dionne, who added it is likely tax payers could be facing a $500 levy for the next 15 to 20 years.

In the coming weeks Dionne plans to meet with the board of the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region to discuss P3 funding as well as the design of the hospital.

“I do believe the issue is moving forward, slowly but it is still moving forward and I’m really looking forward to the meeting with the health board to see where it has progressed to,” he said.

nmaxwell@panow.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell