听 听 听 听 听 听听It's no secret that the state of the oil industry affects us all-especially here in the southeast corner of the province. The Observer spoke to a cross-section of citizens from our area. Here are their thoughts:
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Martin Tourand, Carlyle. Owner, Ron's The Work Wear Store Ltd., Secretary Carlyle & Area Chamber of Commerce, Carlyle Town Councillor. 鈥淭he downturn in the oil economy, although worrisome, isn't as bad as other places, notably Alberta. I really think that Saskatchewan as a whole is better off because we are more diversified than other places. With potash, farming, and construction still ongoing in our province we do have more to fall back on for the economy than just oil. My father used to have a saying, 'Farming is our bread and butter, oil is the gravy.' I think this is the saving grace of our province. Our customers, although not as many, are still out there doing what they can to keep going forward. We are a little luckier maybe than most, our customers are very loyal, and if they need product are still coming in to see us. We are still doing what we have to, business-wise, to keep going forward. The mix of product, amounts of stock we carry, etc. are all things we have had to implement to keep ourselves viable and relevant. The people of this province, as well as its businesses, are resilient, and we will find a way to carry on as we always have. This is my fourth time through the oil ups and downs. Although it has always been a source of short-term pain, we have always come through it stronger and I don't expect it to be any less this time. We are already starting to hear some talk from OPEC about slowing the oil output and this can only be a good thing.鈥�
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Derrick Big Eagle, Manor. Chairman and President, Vortex Drilling Ltd. 鈥淥f course the easiest and most obvious is to look at the negative impact of the price of oil and the effects it has on the local economy. If you can look beyond the negative and put full focus on how to run your business or career, you will make it through the extreme hard times and you will excel when industry turns around. We are very fortunate to have companies like Crescent Point who have found a mechanism to stay active in an environment that should not exist. It has made people dig deep into the morals, work harder and adapt to the environment of 'more for less.'鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淭hese times are not about watching your savings grow or picking out your winter holiday spot. It's about paying your bills and managing your money and debt. It is 100 per cent survival mode until the price of oil starts to rise. In our area, everyone is affected in one way or another with this low price of oil.鈥�
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Darlene Burnett, Carlyle. Treasurer and Carlyle contact for Carlyle & District Food Bank. 鈥淎fter this Christmas, we at the food bank were wondering what January would be like. We found the need is going up, probably by more than half our usual number of requests. So far, we've had 66 requests for hampers in January. December is always a big month-that's to be expected with Christmas hampers. January was big, and I'm expecting this to be the new normal.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淭he food bank pantry is in the Carlyle United Church. The area communities we serve include Arcola, Carlyle, Forget, Kisbey, Manor, Redvers, Stoughton, Wawota and surrounding areas. I'm really impressed by what I've seen so far. Food drives held during the fall and into winter really helped and people have really come out and donated. But the need for food is ongoing and with the economy the way it is in the southeast right now, we'll continue to need donations to keep our shelves ready to help those in need.鈥�
Shannon MacLeod, Carlyle. Manager, The Bargain Shop!. 鈥淭his year, The Bargain Shop! partnered with Cornerstone Family and Youth to bring a little Christmas to local families in need. It was our first year joining CFY and concentrating on local families, so I can't compare it to past years. But I can say that we provided gifts to over 150 families in our little area, which took in more communities than you might think and included families that you wouldn't have thought might be affected this way. It's pretty widespread within our area.鈥�
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Lucille Dunn, Manor. Deputy Mayor. 鈥淚 think we've got people affected by the downturn. In our community, young people have lost jobs because of it. Fortunately, some employers have taken steps like cut wage rates or reduce hours in an effort to keep people employed. This causes employees to rethink how they live and certainly, spending is affected.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淢any retired people in the area receive royalties from oil companies and have for years. These royalties form a part of their retirement income at a time when someone is no longer able to bridge the income gap with employment.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淚n those ways, our community has been affected. Down the road, we in the village could certainly be affected if young people get in a situation where they can't for example, meet their obligations to the village like taxes and utilities. I certainly hope not. When you think about the people that directly do the drilling, the contractors... it's everybody. Everyone's affected somehow.鈥�
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Jenn Sedor, Carlyle. Coordinator, Cornerstone Family and Youth and Carlyle Town Councillor.
鈥淭here's going to be a lot of families that have a significantly lower income per household than they did before and in some cases, the workload will shift from one partner to the other. There are already changes to the community as a result of a lot of guys who are usually working at this time of the year and now, aren't. A concern for a community when an industry is affected is that people relocate, real estate is affected, and there is a higher dependence on food banks and social services.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淏ut it's also a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community. In a sense, it refocuses Carlyle and area. We return to relying on our neighbours and a sense of pride in our community and its people that we've maybe neglected. But it's a mixed sense of opportunity and concern at the same time.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淲ith the low Canadian dollar, we have a lot to offer with tourism-especially here with the beautiful Moose Mountains up the road and all of the amenities in Carlyle.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淲hat happens in the oil industry affects us all and in the meantime, we've got to help each other out and work on investing in our local capital, volunteering and community giving. Our pocketbooks might be a little thinner, but hopefully, our hearts can be a little bigger.鈥澨�
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Christa Daku, Estevan. Executuve Director, Envision Counselling Centre. 鈥淲e are seeing a direct impact at Envision Counselling with the services we provide in the southeast. All of our offices are operating at capacity, with the need for expansion to keep up with the demand in counselling and support services. We provide counselling for families in crisis and individuals experiencing interpersonal violence in our Carlyle office specifically, with statistics on the rise 15 per cent from last year at this time. Last September, after providing a clinic in Oxbow one day a week, we opened up the space to start a part-time office, offering the same services as Carlyle, to assist individuals in the far southeast part of the province. Obviously, with individuals out of work, this impacts families as a whole, but it also impacts the stress levels people are experiencing, which encompasses life-changing events for many of us.
听听听听听听听听听听听 There are many areas where individuals may want to seek help in their lives and we invite them to visit our website at or give one of our offices a call.鈥�
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RCMP Staff Sgt. Darren Simons, Carlyle detachment. 鈥淲e're not seeing as much heavy traffic on the highways or as many heavy vehicles. But we are seeing other people who are taking unnecessary risks-by speeding more and speeding for longer distances. Even with lower truck traffic, we're still seeing collisions on highway intersections. Even though traffic volume has changed, the RCMP urge motorists to drive safely.鈥�
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Janice Giroux, Weyburn. Vice-President, Community Health, Sun Country Health Region.
鈥淲e haven't seen an uptake regarding people accessing our services yet, but we're prepared. Sun Country Health Region has mental health and addictions services available to all residents of the region. Wherever possible, services are provided without disrupting people's normal daily activities and routines. Mental health can be affected by a variety of environmental and socioeconomic factors and economic issues may have mental health impacts. For referrals to Mental Health and Addictions programs, please contact our Intake Office at: (306)-842-8665 or toll free at 1-(800)-216-7689.
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Marga Cugnet, Weyburn. CEO, Sun Country Health Region. In an email, Cugnet stated the following: 鈥淪un Country Health Region has received no increase in calls for mental health/addiction services or other health services. However, SCHR has received a 234 per cent increase in job applications in all areas. The downturn may also impact funding available for capital upgrades, so some regional projects may be deferred when funding is limited.鈥�
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Ray Boutin, Carlyle. Performance Realty. 鈥淣ot to downplay the effect of the current oil sector slowdown, but traditionally, the winter months are a slower turnaround time to move property. The volume in last year's sales over the previous year were down a few notches, but better in the rural SE area than in the larger centres of Estevan and Weyburn.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淎n interesting thing to note was experienced in the Kenosee Lake area where it was evident that the rising Kenosee countered any effect of the looming West Texas crude, as sales and building of new homes around Kenosee remained strong. Another encouraging observation is that financial institutions seem to be willing to work with individuals and families that may have suffered job losses or slow downs in work. We are seeing firsthand the resilience of individuals as they come forward with ideas to kick off entrepreneurial undertakings and look for property that may match their needs and budget. We're seeing to some degree some of the Albertan Saskatchewanites making inquiries about coming back home. People in and out of this area recognize that this is a great place to work, live and play and therefore, as has been seen in previous downturns, is that values tend to level out and resume as economic activity rises again.鈥�
