Lloydminster MLA Colleen Young says that she will continue to stand up for the oil and gas industry in Saskatchewan and support the need for pipelines.
“As much as oil and gas is still a valuable commodity for our province and we need to support the development of pipelines. Our oil companies have been struggling since 2014 they have been hiring back some skilled labour, but it’s more about the inability for them to get their product to their global market.”
The Government of Saskatchewan released their 2018 budget on Tuesday that was themed around staying on track to return to balance by next year. The budget for energy and resources saw an increase of 1.5 per cent with a total of $45.8 million being invested in the energy sector.
In Lloydminster and the surrounding areas, rural crime has been an issue, especially with policing. The government has proposed $4.9 million into their Rural Crime Strategy that will go towards adding 30 more police positions. Young says that this budget has seen a significant investment into rural crime.
“Through our corrections and policing, RCMP, the development of 258 officers of different designations that will help to work with our local RCMP to help take care of some of the challenges that have been happening in our rural areas around crime and criminal activity.”
Young says that since she has come into office she has been working on providing better internet services in rural areas. She adds that SaskTel has already committed to small community towers, but will provide more investment into better towers in rural communities.
The government is also introducing the Saskatchewan Value-Added Incentive (SVAI) to help the competitiveness in the province and attract investment to the agriculture sector. SVAI gives a 15 per cent non-refundable and non-transferable tax credit for new agriculture facilities.
“Our farmers are very ingenuitive and creative people. Over the years, if you read any local history book you can see the strength in adversity they’ve shown in continuing to take care of our lands yet produce good crops.”
Young is currently working on talks with the Alberta government about the Wastewater Treatment Plant.