The Saskatchewan NDP says an ever-growing provincial roads budget isn’t helping the people of Dore Lake.
Critic Buckley Belanger brought up the poor quality of Highway 924 in Question Period on Monday, which was spurred by a special visit to the Legislative building in Regina. A group of Dore Lake residents had travelled from the area, which is about 350 kilometres north of Saskatoon, to make their issues heard.
“Dore Lake residents know that Highway 924 can’t handle the logging trucks that regularly use it. So like many northern highways, 941 is constantly being beaten up,” Belanger said, before he asked what the premier has to say to those who made the trip to Regina.
In response, Highways Minister Nancy Heppner said the 2015/16 budget includes $1 million for repairs and maintenance on the Dore Lake road. She also said the province has upped the northern budget for highways by 52 per cent over last year.
Belanger said this isn’t just about discomfort for drivers, “it means that their safety and lives are put at risk,” and the province is not taking concerns seriously by refusing to properly upgrade the highways.
Heppner says the government has been in talks with logging companies, and asked them to reduce their speed on Highway 924, “which will help with the roads getting beat up a little bit less” and “asked them to pull their trucks off the road before freeze-up so we can do some maintenance so that the road’s in good condition before winter.”
The province’s approach to the forestry industry was also mentioned as a frustrating issue, but the focus for the NDP was on highways spending that is fixing a lot less roads despite “spending a whole lot more,” said Trent Wotherspoon, the NDP finance critic. “Why won’t the premier just admit that the main reason he’s paying more but paving less is because he’s gutted the highways ministry and hired a whole bunch of pricey external consultants?”
Heppner’s response to that, was that consultants are necessary for detailed and specialized projects. She said Belanger himself had agreed with that earlier.