Incumbent Greg Dionne is seeking a third term as Mayor of Prince Albert. (Submitted photo/Greg Dionne)

By Alison Sandstrom

Civic Election

Dionne prioritizes public safety, job creation in re-election platform

Oct 30, 2020 | 2:14 PM

Incumbent Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne is promising to “stay the course” if elected.

Dionne has now formally announced his election platform. Public safety and job creation are among his top priorities.

He told paNOW key projects he’s been working on for years like the hospital expansion and the aquatics centre are starting to come to fruition.

“People have to understand you don’t just go into a deal where they’re going to spend $300 million and you can do it in a couple of weeks,” Dionne said, referring to the Victoria Hospital expansion announced in March. “It takes lots of time, different levels of government. So the reason I want to stay the course, and the reason I’m running is I’d like to see some of these projects under construction and completed.”

Going forward, the Victoria Hospital project will be an area of key focus for Dionne.

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“[The government] hasn’t committed to a date, they said when it’s financially feasible, you know that could be anytime,” he said. “So I want to make sure we keep on the government to keep their committment of building a new hospital.”

Economic boost

Dionne’s platform lists 14 “work in progress” items including a new French school and the expansion of the University of Saskatchewan Prince Albert campus. Underlying all of them, he said, is job creation.

“How do you make your community better? By getting jobs,” he said. “You get jobs, more people are buying in restaurants, at gas stations and shopping in stores downtown. That’s the key to economic development, jobs.”

Earlier this month Dionne announced he was in the final stages of negotiations with a company ready to build a forestry manufacturing production facility in Prince Albert. While he had initially hoped to close the deal right after the provincial election, once MLAs got back to work, he said he now believes it will take a little longer because politicians will not be sworn in until after the final mail-in vote count is complete.

“But I did meet some of the bureaucrats during the election that are still working on that project and they said ‘keep calm Greg, it’s coming forward, as soon as the government gets back, we’ll be back in the game,” he said.

Crime and public safety

Dionne has also made public safety a top priority in his re-election platform.

Asked about recent violence in Prince Albert and what he would do to combat it, Dionne said it was important to remember cities across the province have been dealing with increased levels of violent crime.

“Unfortunately it’s the gangs fighting among themselves,” Dionne said. “And what I’m so worried about – and that’s why I’m so pleased we’re getting aggressive and going after them – is I’m worried one day an innocent person’s going to be caught up in between the gang fights, we’ve seen that happen in other cities and states and I don’t want that to happen here.”

Homelessness, addiction and mental health concerns also contribute to crime, Dionne said. He explained he plans to continue to work with the province to address those issues, which he emphasized are provincial jurisdiction.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom