(File Photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Local budget reaction

‘Optimistic’: Battlefords leaders react to budget

Mar 20, 2025 | 5:12 PM

There’s excitement in the Battlefords the day after the provincial budget was released.

“I’m definitely excited that a, this is a balanced budget,” said Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie. He also said it was good to see a surplus.

He explained that some people may have looked at it from a different perspective or asking why there aren’t protections against tariffs.

“In my understanding, part of that surplus is there to make sure that if something goes awry with the tariffs on potash or canola or anything that will negatively revenues of the province, there’s a little bit of leeway in there.”

According to the budget, the Battlefords and Meadow Lake are expected to receive major funding for healthcare including a planned urgent care centre and 30 full-time positions for dialysis services that will eventually be available.

Ban on Booze

More than 50 U.S. alcohol brands will soon vanish from Sask. shelves

13h ago

PROVINCIAL BUDGET

Jeremy Harrison talks new budget impacts on Meadow Lake

17h ago

Sask Most Wanted

PHOTOS: Saskatchewan RCMP release 'Most Wanted' list

Mar 20, 2025

“That one is huge because we have people who have to leave our community quite often,” he said, noting the additional services will also benefit those who live in the north and currently have to go to Saskatoon, Lloydminster or Regina for treatment.

North Battleford Mayor Kelli Hawtin agreed.

“That will certainly prove to be helpful when we understand there’s a wait list for these types of services, not only here but in the northwest of the province.”

Another area Leslie was excited about was the prospect of the future urgent care centre. Looking at the success of the one in Regina, which opened last year and has so far seen well over 20,000 patients, the mayor said it will make a huge impact.

“That urgent care can’t come soon enough for the City of North Battleford and Battleford and the region,” he said.

Over $600 million has been allotted to mental health and addictions services – that comes as welcome news for Officer-in Charge (OIC) Detachment Commander Ryan How.

“Anything that supports our partner agencies definitely helps the frontline policing,” he said.

“More and more of our clients are suffering from complex needs that are beyond the capacity of what the RCMP are trained to deal with. So, we’re forced to partner up with mental health, addictions and other social agencies to support us and we’re more and more integrating with these agencies.”

Hawtin said the city has been working to build strong relationships with the provincial government and said there are still gaps in social services and needs in the community.

“We’re still working on advocating for what those solutions are for the province to assist with some of those things,” she said.

“There’s still work to do but I think overall, we’re optimistic with what we see.”

According to the budget, a $15 million investment will add 500 treatment spaces like the Battlefords Treatment Centre, currently one of 221 in operation.

“The more capacity they have, it allows us to return to our core policing duties and be more responsive to the public’s requests for what they would like the police to do locally,” he said.

“It fits in excellent to our initiative to improve the downtown core – improve safety in the downtown core – a lot of the people we’re dealing with there are suffering from complex needs so, to ensure that they have the supports through mental health and addictions really does help the RCMP.”

BattlefordsNOW has reached out to Meadow Lake Mayor Merlin Seymour, however, he was unavailable at the time of this writing.

Among the excitement within the city and the town is the opportunities locally with Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN).

“We’re pretty encouraged to hear that there’s an announcement of 14 new SCAN officers in Saskatchewan,” said Hawtin.

“The city is very hopeful that we’ll see some of those officers assigned to the Battlefords – that’s been something we’ve been long advocating for.”

The budget also included $350,000 in funding for the Public Geoscience Initiative as a way to encourage critical mineral discoveries in the province.

“They remain positive about the future of Saskatchewan and where we’re going to go with our economic outlook, particularly in the energy and resources sectors,” said Saskatchewan Minister Energy and Resources, Colleen Young.

“We had many meetings with a number of our industries and very positive and very supportive.”

In education, Cut Knife-Turtleford MLA James Thorsteinson said they were proud of what they accomplished.

“We’ve made a lot of promises and commitments,” he noted. “Working on K-to-3 literacy, teaching children to read so that they can read to learn.”

According to the budget, the province is also expanding a pilot program for complex needs classrooms to an additional 50 schools.

Meanwhile, investments to parks and recreation will be welcome news to Battlefords and Meadow Lake residents as provincial parks will receive $13 million for capital improvements.

“Having a strong parks and recreation and playgrounds and amenities for people, it’s a reason why people choose to move to your community,” said Leslie.

“If we can modernize and strengthen our parks and playgrounds…and get support from the government to do it, it’s just going to go a long way to making the Battlefords and the region more attractive for people to live and invest.”

The added incentives encourage those across the river too.

“I think it’s no secret that I think this is one of the greatest places to chose to live for anybody for a variety of reasons,” said Hawtin.

“The professional life and the income you can earn here is on par with anywhere else, but the cost of living is lower, the quality of life is very high. We have a lot of great amenities to offer, great schools.”

The city mayor said the fact that the community is recruiting people to come live and work is a positive indicator.

“It’s telling for a good and healthy future,” she said.

“I love it.”

—

cjnb-news@pattisonmedia.com