La Ronge Mayor Thomas Sierzycki is running for the Saskatchewan Party in the spring election. Photo courtesy Thomas Sierzycki, Facebook.
With a spring election on the horizon in Saskatchewan, La Ronge’s mayor has announced a leave of absence.
Mayor Thomas Sierzycki says a deputy mayor will take over his role as of March 4. Sierzyicki is running for the Cumberland constituency with the Saskatchewan Party.
He says the timeline is in keeping with what premier Brad Wall has laid out.
“So the writ will be dropped sometime in March,” Sierzycki said. “The premier’s indicated that it’ll probably be a 28-day writ.”
While Sierzycki says the premier’s already indicated how long the campaign will be, that detail hasn’t actually made its way into Wall’s recent conversations with media. Regardless, the margins are pretty slim for how long a campaign can be – Elections Saskatchewan states the minimum is 27 days, and maximum is 34 days.
What the public does already know is that the election will be on April 4, something that is mandated by Elections Saskatchewan, based on the province’s election laws.
The Sask Party has shown a commanding lead in a recent Mainstreet/Postmedia poll, with 59 per cent of support from decided voters.
That puts the part 31 points of the NDP, which has 28 per cent. Sierzycki will be running against the NDP’s Doyle Vermette in the election. Vermette’s held the seat since 2008.
While Sierzycki’s campaigning, deputy mayor Doreen Polischuk will serve on an interim basis as the first female mayor.
La Ronge council meeting locks in on economic changes
Sierzycki let his fellow councillors know about his upcoming leave of absence at a Town Council meeting on Wednesday night.
Council also approved five business licences in the community.
At the meeting, councillors noted that at least 10 to 15 Albertans have found work in La Ronge due to the oil industry’s downturn across the border.
“We are a little bit more stable, our community has some opportunities. And we welcome all people that come into our community that are looking for new opportunities,” Sierzycki said.
La Ronge has been, for the most part, weathering the economic storm that’s brewing across Canada with its role in the uranium industry and a WestWind Aviation expansion, he said.
However, the low Canadian dollar is still hitting home in La Ronge, Sierzycki said. Council spoke about strengthening its tourism marketing by working together with other groups.
Hopefully drumming up that interest will see “an influx of American people” spending money in the area and “utilizing some of the beauty that we have to offer,” Sierzycki said.
A delegation also visited council to discuss a potential business development in the La Ronge area. Sierzycki notes that the type of business will be public once the council meeting’s minutes are posted online, he didn’t want to share the details because “it’s very preliminary.”