By paNOW Staff

P.A. Civic Election 2016 – Meet Greg Dionne

Oct 21, 2016 | 5:00 PM

Greg Dionne is currently the mayor of Prince Albert. He is running again in the upcoming civic election. paNOW has now posted interviews with all four candidates running in the election, Wednesday Oct. 26.

Recently the federal government announced each province will be required to institute a carbon tax by 2018, with the revenue generated going back to the provinces. As mayor of Saskatchewan’s third largest city, how would you like this additional revenue used?

Well, it’ll be interesting, because usually when the government gives you money, they usually tell you how they can use it. If we were free to use it, we’d use it on special projects, you know, our share of the bridge, our share of the hospital, our share of whatever. But unfortunately it’s so early to start because they’ve just announced it, and as money flows to the province, it’s the province that decides how you can use it.

So they haven’t said, for example, can we use it for infrastructure? Can we use it for new billings? Can we use it for facilities? So it’s a little early to answer that question, but certainly if we get money, we can spend it. We would probably spend it, of course, starting on infrastructure, and then see what our demands are. But first of all we’d also have to see what the amount is, you know. So there’s lots of unanswered questions. 

The city has three streams of revenue of raise money for programs and infrastructure (user fees, property taxes and levies). If during your term as mayor a tax increase is required which of the three streams would you raise and why?

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Well the first stream you look at is property tax. Levies and the other ones are determined as direct expenditures. For example, we have $189 levy for asphalt, that generates $4 million, and we spend $4 million every year. But generally when you are raising tax, it’s for general operations. You raise it out of property taxes. 

As mayor, what would you do to address homelessness in the city?

I’d keep working with all our agencies. We support Our House and the ‘Y’ seems to be, you know, attacking it head on with their Cot Program, their shelters, so I’ll continue to write letters on their behalf, to their funding agencies to renew their funding. And the last round that was under threats, so I had to make some personal phone calls, which I have no problem with, because it’s an issue that we cannot tackle ourselves. We support the homeless program and housing by giving away lots to the organizations. So it’s working with our partners, because you just can’t deal with it by yourself. 

Does Prince Albert have issues with addictions?

If you got to be the mayor and you don’t know the answer, you shouldn’t be asked that question.

Yes, we have an addiction problem, both with alcohol and drugs, and so we have to work hard to solve those problems. We have been fortunate in the last 10 years to get some addiction centres that we didn’t have before, both for adults and youth, and we have to keep working with the health board on our needle program that is not working. And what’s scary about the needle program and I keep telling them is that’s the threat to harm reduction. The reason for the needle program is to stop the spread of disease, so I understand that. But until you deal with the needle issue, people aren’t gonna be happy, because they don’t like how the needles all over our community.

So, I’m gonna continue to hound the health board. I’ve been no secret, I’ve been very vocal to the health board to deal with the needles before we take drastic actions to end the needles in our community. 

The federal government has announced that recreational use of marijuana will be legalized in 2017, with its distribution regulated by the provinces. As mayor, do you believe that legal marijuana will ease or increase Prince Albert’s addiction issues?

Well it’s an addiction. So I think that’s the answer. You know, I’ve spoken before about it. And you know, are we gonna allow dispensaries in the city, that’s one of the other questions that we have. But again, the federal government hasn’t even come up with the rules, let alone the province to us. We are always at the bottom of the food chain. So when people ask us questions like that, what are we gonna do, you know, we’d like to answer that question, but I don’t think the federal government at this point even knows how they are gonna do it. That’s why they’ve appointed a panel in the committee and Bill Blair, Minister to overlook it.

And so they are still working out the details, and then once they get the details, it will be funneled to the provinces, and then the provinces will funnel it to the municipalities. So it’s gonna be an interesting process because you know, we are just months away from their commitment of letting it roll. And nobody knows what the rules and regulations are gonna be. So till we know those, you know, I’m quite sure there’ll be rules coming to us as municipalities that it’ll have to be so far away from the schools, so far away from the playgrounds. So till we get that information, I’d like to be more direct to my answer, but we are not in control of that situation. Things that we are in control of, we tell you exactly how it’s gonna work, but in this one, we first have to wait for the federal government, then the province, then it’ll come to us. 

In light of this summer’s oil spill on the North Saskatchewan River, what will you do to ensure Prince Albert’s drinking water is secure in the event of another incident on the river?

Well, we are gonna monitor the river further up. You know, before, I used to stand at the river and think I was the best mayor ever, you know, you got to save water source. And I did hear about the oil spill that morning that it was 320 kilometers away, so I didn’t even think it was a threat or pay any attention. And of course, in a couple of days that changed and we are on it. So I think we’ve learned our lesson and we are gonna be more focused in monitoring to the river a lot more than we have in the past.

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