The federal government has set aside $25 million to help Alberta and Saskatchewan's coal communities in transition, to be used over a five-year window. Since the Energy City falls under the designated category, the City of the Estevan along with a number of other organizations set up a transition committee to proceed with the community development.
After a meeting on Feb. 20, the Mercury talked to Mayor Roy Ludwig about the committee, its plans and progress.
鈥淭he city of Estevan set the transition committee up when we heard that there might be federal moneys available,鈥� said mayor. 鈥淲e looked at different areas, where the communities were affected in a negative fashion by the cutback of an industry.鈥�
The transition committee is now trying to create a new development plan with the intention of economically replacing the potential job losses which are coming down the road.
鈥淲e want to get a manufacturing base, maybe warehousing. We are looking at many different angles to get set up in our community to help to take the place of coal when it starts to transition out. And of course along with that the SaskPower workers as well,鈥� Ludwig said.
The committee keeps gaining momentum and attracting more stakeholders. As mayor noted, their team is already quite big and keeps growing.
At the last meeting there were representatives of the City of Estevan, Estevan Chamber of Commerce, the provincial Ministry of the Environment, the Government of Canada through their Western Diversification branch, SaskPower, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Worker (IBEW), and representation from Westmoreland Coal Company management. A few other members didn鈥檛 make it to the meeting.
鈥淲e had a good representation around the table. Also we did have people from SPC there from Regina. We had a good conversation,鈥� said Ludwig. 鈥淩honda Laing who is a director, policy, planning and external relations for the Western Diversification fund, explained the program.鈥�
The $25 million available through the federal program might be used to fund non-coal-related programs in affected communities. Some programs will have a matching component to them. Communities must apply for projects to be funded under this program, which is structured mainly for nonprofit entities.
The mayor noted that these are still early days for the transition committee but the work is going well.
鈥淲hat we would like to start out by doing is getting some assistance for our economic development officer (Dwight) 鈥淔itz鈥� Bramble, who will be our point person on this,鈥� Ludwig said.聽
The committee hopes to find a full-time transition community co-ordinator by the end of April at the latest. The person will be pulling the community to see what economically positive development options Estevan may have to maintain the jobs and the population. The main goal is to create local jobs and local retraining opportunities so people wouldn鈥檛 need to leave.
鈥淭hat co-ordinator will meet with various stakeholders within the community and see what is possible, as far as setting up what we might need, for setting up potential businesses, setting up a manufacturing base,鈥� Ludwig said.
The co-ordinator will undertake the process of consultation and co-ordination and along with the committee will establish and produce a comprehensive strategic plan.
鈥淭his plan would include training ideas and initiatives, and in some cases retraining coal workers or SPC workers in collaboration with the 小蓝视频east College,鈥� Ludwig said.
In the meantime, the hopes are the equivalency agreement with the federal government will go through, which will give the committee more time to create a working development strategy.
鈥淩ight now, if we don鈥檛 get the equivalency agreement, Units 4 and 5 at SPC will be going down probably by the end of this year, of 19. That would be greatly disruptive for our community,鈥� Ludwig said.
The mayor also pointed out that they might be adding a few more members to the committee in the nearest future.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be asking the town of Beinfait, probably the mayor, to join us in this committee, because their community will be affected. And also we will ask the RM of Estevan and the RM of Coalfields. A lot of people work at the mine, or at SPC, or out in the RMs as well. So we鈥檒l be asking for representation from two RMs along with the ton of Beinfait moving forward as well to be a part of this transition committee,鈥� Ludwig said.
