WEYBURN - Barring the fall of the Liberal-NDP federal government, election season is over, for now, and the real work must now begin for both the provincial and municipal governments in Saskatchewan.
Provincially, the Scott Moe government was re-elected to a majority government, but they are now facing a stronger NDP opposition in the Legislature.
Moe admitted that voters have indicated by this result that they want changes made to how the government runs things across the province, and they now have the next four years to show residents that they are going to take this message seriously.
The issues that many people were mentioning in the campaigns included health care, infrastructure, education and tax levels. How will the government respond to the perennial problems of education funding, and staffing of health care facilities, just as two of the issues many people have been raising?
If the Sask Party fails to make any serious attempts to address these concerns, the NDP will be sure to raise their voices and let people know about the shortfalls, as they have a stronger shadow cabinet than they’ve had for several years.
The appetite for change was reflected somewhat in some of the municipal election results, including a new mayor for Weyburn in Jeff Richards, and a new reeve for the RM of Weyburn in Bud Grohn.
For the RM, the municipality hosted a meeting in regard to the wind turbine proposal from Enbridge the day after the election, and a lot of questions and concerns were raised there.
Enbridge has promised to modify their proposal, with the details to come out at a town hall set for Dec. 11 at McKenna Hall.
For the City of Weyburn, the new councillors and mayor and veteran council members will be thrown right into the deep end, as the first thing they are going to tackle is the 2025 budget, including what to do with the indoor swimming pool at the Weyburn Leisure Centre.
The budget by itself is a tough task to deal with, and this work will begin with some rookies around the council table who will need to be brought up to speed on what the city is dealing with for the next year.
The issues with the pool will certainly impact that process, as any solution is going to cost money, possibly a very significant amount, depending on what the recommendations will be for the repair or replacement of the pool.
Residents will need to have some patience as they await the outcome of this work, and it remains to be seen what the financial challenges will be as they wrestle with this important document for the city.
