(File photos/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Provincial Budget Reaction

Melfort’s Mayor and MLA react to 2021 provincial budget

Apr 7, 2021 | 5:00 PM

Local politicians are reacting to the latest provincial budget released on Tuesday, April 6.

The budget will see more investment in areas like education, healthcare, and mental health. That’s something that pleases Sask. Party MLA for Melfort Todd Goudy. He said there’s a lot of credit to be paid to those in the communities in those sectors.

“You just can’t throw money at fixing a problem,” Goudy said. “But we’ve tried to do what we can. It’s those local people, it’s those boots on the ground that have carried the province through this difficult time.”

Goudy said he’s also pleased to see more investment into rural connectivity. Locally, he said it’s great news that money has been set aside for planning of a new long-term care home in Watson. Goudy said those in the community and surrounding RMs have been pushing for that for a while. He said the people on the Quill Plains Lodge board have worked hard to try and make it a reality.

“We’ll let everybody weigh in on what is the needs in that area,” he said. “And work together with the ministry and come up with something that suits the needs of the area and the province.”

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Goudy said they have to plan ahead a bit with the unknown nature of COVID-19.

One thing that did not see any funding for the area was infrastructure in Melfort, namely water line replacement that has been a hot button topic for several years. Mayor Glenn George said it’s disappointing to not see the funding, but he believes the government did what they could for this budget.

“Under the circumstances, I think that’s as good of a budget as they could’ve possibly had,” George said.

He added that it’s great to see the funding for mental health and education, as well.

It’s unfortunate that the funding wasn’t there for water lines in Melfort, said Goudy, but the COVID-19 pandemic has created an issues for the whole province.

“When you look at the overall province, the big picture,” Goudy said. “There are some other needs in other communities that have been addressed and that puts us closer to the front of the line.”

While he may have been disappointed with not seeing funding for infrastructure, George said he’s very happy to see that Melfort will be getting their long-awaited CT Scanner, something that was expected last year, before COVID-19 came to be. The timeline for getting the CT Scanner is still unknown, but it’s expected within a few months.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6