Left to right are Mayor Greg Dionne, Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre, Minister of Corrections Paul Merriman, MLA Alana Ross (Northcote) and PAPS Chief Patrick Nogier. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Nick Nielsen

Politics

Prince Albert Mayor shares how provincial election can affect local politics

Nov 2, 2024 | 9:00 AM

The provincial election is over and the municipal election is coming up soon, and so the future of a lot of community projects could be decided in the next few weeks. While members of the municipal government are focused on their campaigns, they are also watching the ongoing cabinet shuffle in the provincial government.

Current Mayor Greg Dionne shares that regardless of which party is in power in the province, having local MLAs that are part of the governing party can make a huge difference for the city.

“It’s always good to have MLAs in your city when they’re the governing government because when you’re going for funding requests and other requests for policing, at least you have somebody there waving the flag. That’s what I found interesting about the two other cities, because they had the majority of cabinet ministers, and now they have one, so I’m positive because you have to work with the government that’s in power and because most of our funding arrangements are a third (federal), a third (provincial) and a third (municipal), you have to make sure that they’re going to step up with their third so you can proceed with your project.”

While new faces in provincial government are a good thing that can allow new perspectives, it also causes setbacks in projects that were already ongoing. Dionne cited recent discussions the City was having about policing in the province with Minister of Justice Bronwyn Eyre and Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Paul Merriman. Now that those two are gone and set to be replaced, it means the City will have to start all over in trying to push those changes through to the federal level.

“I was working hard with the Justice Minister to help solicit the federal government to stop this catch and release program that we have now for criminals, we need more punishment, and that we also need bail reform. So I’ve got to sort of start that process over because we lost the two ministers that I was working closely with on those two files,” he said.

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It’s easy enough to hire 17 more policemen, but when they put them (criminals) in and they get out just as fast, that’s why we got to work on two different areas. I believe the government stepped up and gave us the policemen that we need, but now we have to work even harder with the three MLA’s that we have and the new ministers to keep pressuring the federal government to change the laws.”

Even in cases where the city has been able to push changes through to the provincial government, a cabinet shuffle can make things all the more difficult to fine-tune those laws to better serve the public.

An example is the recently changed regulations around bear spray in the province that Mayor Dionne worked with former Justice Minister Eyre to change. While the changes were passed to not allow carry of bear spray in public places, it hasn’t slowed the number of incidents down, and Dionne said that they were already working to fix that legislation before the provincial election.

“So on that file, I’m going to have to start all over. We got the phase one where it’s now illegal for them to carry it in urban centers, but it hasn’t slowed the use of it down. We just saw it the other day in Saskatoon, someone sprayed it on one of the transit buses. So our next step is to curb the sale in the market of bear spray.”

There are three MLAs that the city will work with the most, Alana Ross serving her second term in Prince Albert-Northcote, and new MLAs Kevin Kasun of Prince Albert-Carlton and Eric Schmalz of the Saskatchewan Rivers riding.

Generally, first time MLAs are not given cabinet positions, Dionne is hopeful that there cold be two from the Prince Albert area.

If that is the case, Dionne thinks that will not only help in lobbying the Provincial Government for the changes Prince Albert residents want to see, but it should help at the federal level as well. With the threat of a federal election looming, Dionne believes that extra support could be huge for projects like the new arena.

“We’ve had very successful trips to Ottawa with our partners, the Woodland Cree, to get funding for the big arena, but what’s concerning me now is the Parti Quebecois is saying that they’re not going to support the government and it’s is going to fall,” said Dionne.

“Well if the government falls, that puts our project on hold until after the new federal election, and then if there’s a change in government then we’ve got to start all over again. So it’s a never ending race for us, and we sometimes think we’re going around in a circle, but you can never give up because you have to do what’s best for the community.”

The provincial government is currently still finishing their final count of the provincial election, but with over 99% of the votes counted, it doesn’t look like much is set to change. The cabinet will not be decided until the final votes have been counted.

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Nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com