ESTEVAN — Estevan kids had a special visit at the Estevan Public Library (EPL) on March 27.
MLA for Regina University Aleana Young, who is part of the New Democrat Party (NDP) and opposition caucus, visited Estevan on Wednesday. The day at the Energy City started with story time with a group of pre-school kids and their guardians. Young read The Gruffalo book to the kids, while EPL children program co-ordinator Tracey Mathieson with the help of young listeners made the plot come to life with little stuffed characters.
"We love our local library. It's something we use a lot in our own constituency as well for community events. It's a place where people are and I, as somebody with a young family, and Karla [Beck, NDP leader], who's also a mom of three, both of us are such believers in the importance of early childhood and early literacy development. So it [the visit to EPL] just seemed like a really great start to me," Young said.
Following the story time, Young, who has two young children, visited with the kids and their parents and talked to the library staff about their recent renovations, upgrades and programming.
Young, a "buddy MLA" for Estevan, said she works with many organizations and entities throughout the year and tries to come down at least once a year. After her visit to the library, she was to meet with city council and then with the chamber of commerce, and also was supposed to meet with the RM.
"I'm the official opposition critic for SaskPower, and for energy and resources, as well as jobs and the economy. So Estevan in particular, is a community that I try and maintain relationships with and focus on. I talk regularly with people at Boundary, people in the energy sector, with mine workers, as well as small business owners in the community."
Young noted that the provincial budget released a week earlier and its allocations for the southeast were an important part of the reason for her visit to Estevan.
"I'm doing some outreach and seeing how the community feels about the budget. I've had conversations with people, [and some of them] have been a little bit skeptical," Young said. "It is an election year budget. Obviously, people in Saskatchewan are smart. They know election-year budgets are special. But I think there's been some questions surrounding this budget.
"It is a deficit budget. The province is running a deficit of over $200 million. And I think there are some question marks around things like economic development, as well as particular local issues like MRI for Estevan, which we've heard commitments to, but there was not actually any funding in the budget for it. So the people I've spoken to in the community, I think, have some real questions about whether or not this budget was good for Estevan in particular."
Young also commented on Estevan's latest hot topic – the downtown revitalization project.
"I think main streets are critical to the heart of small cities in Saskatchewan. Everybody wants to see money put into infrastructure, whether it's through maintenance, whether it's through those projects, creating jobs. But we also know that people aren't feeling better off now than they were five years ago," Young said.
She cited Angus Reid Institute's recent poll that showed six out of 10 people are very worried about being able to pay their bills in Saskatchewan.
"I'm a small business owner myself, and when I talk to people in the small business community, people who really support that entrepreneurship, that economic development, they have a lot of concerns," Young said.
She noted that a number of small businesses closing in Saskatchewan is concerning.
"There's a lot of good things to celebrate about the province and where things are going right now. But there's a lot of economic insecurity. The job numbers from Statistics Canada, particularly the southeast quarter of the province show a net loss for the past five years of 600 jobs. That's 600 fewer jobs than there were five years ago. And we've seen the economy shrink before, during and after the pandemic. So while there's a lot that's going well, I think people are worried. People recognize that things are tougher than they were a couple of years ago, especially for entrepreneurs, especially for small businesses, those concerns around increasing costs, whether it's the carbon tax, whether it's your power bill, whether it's your transportation, those are really impacting the ability of small businesses, that mean so much to the community, to keep the doors open," Young said.
The 2024-25 budget and its impacts on the southeast, as well as economic development, economic concerns and positive news from the local business community, were to be discussed during Young's Wednesday meetings in Estevan.
MLA for Regina Rosemont Trent Wotherspoon was planning to come to Estevan as well but had to cancel at the last minute.
