Taking these projects and ventures together, it would seem clear that the Weyburn area is doing fairly well in spite of the bad news that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the economy over the past year. This is not to downplay the hurt that public health restrictions have caused in the local, provincial and national economy, as this has been an all-too-real problem that business owners and industries have had to deal with, and are continuing to deal with as long as these restrictions are in place. There was irreparable harm done in the extreme lockdown of a year ago, as businesses were told to close their doors for over two months before some easing of restrictions came in. Now there are hints of more restrictions ongoing as schools are going to remote learning for at least two weeks after the Easter week break is done.
Mayor Roy said he has a “very optimistic view” with commodity prices doing well right now for both oil and agriculture. With oil prices staying above $60 a barrel for the past while, there are more people getting back to work again, including with the well abandonment program. With recent conversations with the chamber’s new executive director, Larry Heggs, the mayor said the mayors caucus would like to urge chambers of commerce to push the province to go back to supporting the film industry again. He pointed out how, as an example, Ghostbusters 3 had initially looked at Saskatchewan for production, but when it was found there were no tax incentives available here for that industry, they moved production to Alberta.
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Moose Jaw Mayor Fraser Tolmie urged residents to keep following COVID-19 restrictions a day after Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer said the city was on “red alert.”
Dr. Saqib Shahab identified Moose Jaw as a place of concern due to the rise of COVID-19 variants at a news conference on Tuesday. However, the province has imposed no new restrictions like those introduced in the Regina zone earlier this month on the zone that includes Moose Jaw.
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The recommendation was to raise the mill rates for agricultural and railway properties, and on residential properties, and to lower the commercial mill rate. The result will be, for a commercial property with an assessment of $300,000, a decrease of $13.70, and for a residential property with an assessment of $300,000, there will be an increase of about 97 cents. Coun. Jeff Richards said he would vote in favour of this move as 2020 was a very difficult year for the business community, and 2021 might be even harder. “A $13.70 decrease isn’t going to make much difference, and it might not, but what’s important is it’s not an increase. The message to the business community is, ‘don’t worry about your taxes going up this year, we’re going to hold fast on that’,” said Coun. Richards, adding the message to the province’s business community is that Weyburn is open for business, and in spite of tough times, they are lowering taxes for businesses.
“We are pleased to advise that three family physicians have joined the Weyburn Health Centre this month,” said Trevor Tessier, Director of Primary Health Care for Southeast 8 (Weyburn and area). Drs. Ebelechukwu Ejiofor, Dr. Arian Ravaei and Dr. Saheed Gbamgbola all started their practices near the beginning of February. They can be reached for appointments by calling 306-842-5444. In addition, Dr. Pradeep Amarasooriya is joining the Weyburn Primary Health Care Clinic until the end of July. Dr. Amarasooriya can be reached for appointments by calling 306-842-8790. “We extend a hearty welcome to all of the doctors, and hope their stay here is incredible, as we have so much going on in our city,” said Mayor Marcel Roy.