MOOSOMIN — The World-Spectator had a chance to talk to Melville-Saltcoats 小蓝视频 Warren Kaeding, who was also named the new provincial minister of Trade and Export Development. Kaeding shared his thoughts on the year that was, and where he sees things heading in the future.
What were some of the big highlights in Melville-Saltcoats this year?
The first one is that I was re-elected! So I’m certainly very appreciative of the confidence that the constituents put in me to represent them again. I let them know that I had unfinished business I still wanted to get done for the constituency. So that was very important for me to finish off some projects that we got started.
Certainly, the big one would be the Integrated Health Facility in Esterhazy, we finally got some funding dollars to get the project off the ground. So that’s a great start, and I do want to see that get to fruition. But at the same time, just healthcare—we certainly heard about that. I think we’re certainly getting into a better position in both Melville and Esterhazy with our doctor complement, certainly bringing on more nurse practitioners, bringing in more people into the diagnostic side. That’s been a very positive development and something I want to continue to work on. There’s still more work to be done there.
There’s always work done on highways, feeling comfortable that we got the announcement to get Highway 16 repaved from Saltcoats to Yorkton. It was going to happen this fall, but unfortunately, the contractor got tied up with some work down south. So I know it’s next spring, and that’s positive, but we’ve got a lot more work to be done. There’s certainly the Number 8 south of Langenburg, the 247, Crooked Lake, Round Lake, and then the Number 22 going past Lemberg and Nuedorf, which is another key area for us. Those are all projects that are great that they got started, but we just want to see them come to completion.
What’s interesting is the amount of commerce that goes down those highways. When you look at even the Number 9 highway that connects to the Number 1 to, literally, the Number 16, that’s the largest primary highway connecting the Number 1 and the Number 16 pretty well across from about that Brandon turn off through Saskatchewan. There’s not another primary connector like that Number 9 highway. So there is a lot of value in making sure that it’s in good condition.
The other positive thing that I do want to see come to fruition is the daycare expansion announcements. There is a brand new daycare that’s getting set up as we speak in Esterhazy that adds, I think, another 50 spaces to the community and area, and then another one that’s announced in Melville—a little farther behind, but just as exciting—doubling capacity in Melville as well. You always want to hear about kids in your community, you always want to have crying babies in church, always want to have babies in our community. So both those expansions are very big for the area, just to attract more professionals to the area, and provide families an opportunity to expand their employment opportunities. Daycares are an important part of our constituency as well.
What is it like to see some funding dollars coming like we reported recently about Mosaic contributing $100,000 to Little Miners?
Having the commitment that we’re getting from our big business entities in the constituency is fantastic. I know CN is very supportive in the City of Melville and area. Certainly, we’ve got Mosaic contributing to the community, and even the ag industry, you see different players in the ag industry supporting different entities, from some of the daycares in the smaller communities to community hall or heritage site improvements. Certainly, our co-ops are playing a big role in seeing a lot of those special projects getting off the ground.
In contrast to all the positive highlights of the year, are there any challenges still on the table to work out?
Well, I do worry for our constituency, because as a province, we’re so blessed to be able to produce products, but they are all exportable. And you certainly are concerned about the noise we’re hearing from the U.S. in particular, but certainly from other trading countries as well. That’s providing a fair bit of nervousness going into the New Year as to where does that leave our industries that are supporting our communities. That’s a nervous area for me.
As always, working towards a balanced budget, all these capital projects that we’ve got on the go, whether it’s highways, whether it’s new schools, major repairs on things, you always get nervous about 小蓝视频 able to complete those affordably, because we’re certainly seeing the cost of projects escalating beyond belief. In some cases, it’s demand, and certainly lack of skilled labour. I think if there’s one project that I’ve been working on besides my ministerial responsibilities is trying to ensure that we’ve got our kids prepared for the opportunities they’re going to have in the future. To me, that means qualified and skilled instructors available to teach them trades in school, in Grades 10, 11, and 12 when they’re starting to really show an interest in the skills and trades area, and just having qualified people available to teach them. That’s so important.
What are your feelings on how the tariffs should be handled?
Nobody wins in a tariff war. We all end up losing, whether we’re running a business or we’re just a consumer, we all lose in that. So I think it’s far better, and as our Premier has indicated, to reach out to all the people that we could meet and discuss business within our past and in our future, and continue to have those conversations.
As we have those conversations, you find out the concern on the other side as well—the people that maybe have to buy these goods that have high tariffs on them, they realize that it’s going to come at a cost to them as well. We’ll continue to work on those relationships, and I think, as we saw in the first iteration of Trump’s presidency, that we’re able to get to a good spot by just nurturing all those relationships, and fully expect that we’ll be able to do that again.
The government has been making a lot of announcements lately.
What’s exciting is the small and medium enterprise investment tax that we’re bringing in, certainly the Young Entrepreneurs Program that we’re setting up—that’s getting our young people better prepared for the business world in front of them because Saskatchewan is just made up of so many small businesses. They are really the crux of our economy here. Anything that we can do to encourage and facilitate their growth and development, absolutely we’re going to be doing because we’ve got so many great things going on in this province, so many great stories to tell.
I actually had our staff put together a two-page quick summary of all the great metrics and all the success stories, all the great statistics that show Saskatchewan is in a good place right now.
That must have been some small type to cram in all the good stuff on two pages!
That’s funny you say that, I’m looking at it right now. I’ve got to stretch it out so my bifocals can focus on it! Talking to some people on the weekend, they want good news. They really want to hear that some positive things are happening out there. And I think that’s a story that we’ve got to tell, look past some of the headlines you may see in the national media, but if you look at what’s happening in small-town Saskatchewan, right now, there are a lot of great things going on. I look at the coverage area that your newspaper is in, my goodness—some great stories are unfolding there!
What are some of the things that you’d like to focus on going forward in, say, a year or five years, or even 10?
Constituency-wise, we need to get some of these big capital projects off the ground to completion—like this Integrated Health Facility which is so important to the constituency. We heard through the election, we need to improve health care, we need to improve education. I’d say we’re on a good trajectory to do that with both. So we certainly want to see those come to fruition.
The interesting, anecdotal situation that’s unfolding right now is people moving into the area. When I was going through the election and door knocking, I couldn’t believe the new people that have come to our area. I was in one small community, 100 doors, and came across 10 doors of people that had come to the area—didn’t have any relationship to the area, but just moved here because of affordability, close to the airports, close to major centres, and yet didn’t feel overwhelmed with people and construction and everything else and made Saskatchewan their new life. That’s 10 per cent of a community whose people have come here from outside with no ties to the area, and I think that’s indicative of the entire area.
It’s to try now and make sure that we’ve got everyone accommodated that wants to move to our area, make sure that they all have a great opportunity to succeed in the area, and certainly really focus on making sure that our young people can take advantage of all the incredible opportunities there that are coming at them. I don’t want to see them leave the province to get an education, because the odds are pretty good that if they leave the province and get an education, they’re probably not coming back.
The more that we can do locally through our regional colleges, through Sask Poly, through our universities, to make sure that they have the skills to take advantage of the opportunities that are going to be happening in the province—whether it’s mining hydrogen south of your area or working in the new copper mine, or the huge expansion in uranium right now—we want to expand the oil and gas sector. You see potash, all kinds of new facilities starting up and developing here. There is a huge opportunity for our kids in that skills and trades area, and we want to make sure that they have every opportunity to take advantage of that.
So no luggage as grad presents this year?
Just for their relatives that want to come back home!
It seems like we’re on the cusp of something so huge, just ready to explode.
That’s why I love this new job, because every day there is absolutely something new and interesting that’s coming across my desk and that’s going to be part of my responsibility, to tell that story to both our province and the people in it, but also the rest of the world to say, ‘hey guys, there’s tremendous opportunities in Saskatchewan. You should come check it out.’
And buy up some property in Moosomin before this $30,000 incentive is all done!
Again, what a remarkable story! I use, Moosomin as a great example of what regional co-operation can accomplish for an area. Here is a prime example of what a bunch of municipalities getting together, urban and rural, what you can accomplish when you’re all on the rope in the same direction
You look at—and Esterhazy’s done the metrics—the mine employs 1,000 people, but literally, there’s another 1,000 people that are employed in businesses that support the mine. You can almost double the effect in an area from a single large capital project like that, and we’re seeing that all over the province—like the salt mine at Chaplain—they’re undergoing a huge expansion and looking at potential for even more. There, again, is another business in Saskatchewan that’s just flying under the radar, but has got incredible potential.
