Kaeding says province looking at Moosomin’s example
September 9, 2024, 10:23 am
Melville-Saltcoats MLA Warren Kaeding says the eyes of the province are on the Moosomin region, as initiatives like the $30,000 housing incentive and the $10.6 million airport incentive are seen as examples to emulate around the province.
At a recent public meeting in Esterhazy, Kaeding responded to a question about housing by saying Moosomin’s example could be emulated around the province.
In an interview last week he expanded on those thoughts.
We had done that $30,000 housing incentive here, there’s been more than 100 calls to the town office, people are planning to move here. That’s happening but it wasn’t our target. The idea wasn’t to get folks retiring here, it was to get things built for the people who are here but can’t find housing. We have two apartment buildings under construction and a six-plex that will be started this fall. We’re going to get those units built and we’re going to meet our target. Do you think that is something that could be replicated elsewhere?
You know, even if you’re getting single-unit dwellings and that’s what people are coming for, they’re going to retire, they’re going to move to assisted living or they’re going to downsize and absolutely you’re going to fill—and they’re going to tell their nephews, nieces and grandkids that there’s an incredible opportunity in east central Saskatchewan and they should check out the Moosomin area. Before you know it, you’ve got extended families moving.
And you know what, you guys could not have paid for the national advertising that you got out of that. That’s millions of dollars of free advertising for living in rural Saskatchewan because of your idea, absolutely.
We’ve got 14 doctors in Moosomin and we’re the only town of 3,000 people in Canada where you can do your medical residency. So our first person to graduate from that finished in June. She came two years ago, she grew up in Toronto, took her medical degree, came back to Canada and she could do her residency anywhere and she picked Moosomin for a couple of reasons. She finished her two year residency program at the end of June so now we’ve got first year and second year residents in that program. She graduated and she and her husband have bought a house here. Her parents have moved from Toronto, bought a house and joined a local pickleball group.
Having that education component here makes a difference. Do you think something like that could be replicated in other communities, having that last stage of education in rural Saskatchewan when people are starting to put down roots.
Yes, you’re absolutely right about that residency program. Melfort did the same exact thing that you did and Melfort is second to Moosomin in the number of doctors per capita.
Except they got a CT scanner and we don’t yet. That’s one thing we have to fix.
You’re getting there.
So with this $30,000 program, it’s not only these people coming, we have construction companies, RTM builders, and developers interested in the region. Do you think that program could work in multiple communities?
How do we replicate that? That’s what I was trying to get across in that meeting in Esterhazy.
I’m saying that they should look at this, Kevin. I’m just saying that because of what you guys have done, and I didn’t even know when I spoke at that meeting the success that you’ve generated from it.
I think it should be the template for other communities across the province that have that energy and that enthusiasm and the ability to get this replicated across the province.
I look at what you guys are doing and say, ‘This is what I expect a community to do and if they show that level of commitment, then we as government need to support them.’
Do you think there are a lot of communities that this could work for?
Yes, yes I do. Especially in areas that have resource development. Hydrogen development is going to be the next thing, and they’re actually going to be drilling for hydrogen—first of its kind in the world, and one of the sites that they want to develop is Moosomin.
So again, if there’s a community like yours out there, that is ready to take on business and you’re showing this big open door to them, absolutely you’re going to attract business like that. Other communities should be able to do the same when you’ve got resource development companies coming to your community.
So how big of an issue is housing around the province do you think?
Huge, huge. I tell you, Kevin, in Melville, Yorkton especially. Melville and Yorkton have had doctors, engineers and high-end management from Richardson Pioneer, LDC and Grain Millers, overlook them when they’ve been given career opportunities. They go, ‘Yeah, I just can’t find that nice home that I’m looking for, that nice lot, that nice subdivision that I want to move to. I’ll move to Portage or I’ll move to Carman because I have a second opportunity there for me.’ I know that for a fact in Melville they lost two doctors that were going to move into the area until they just found that there was not adequate housing for them.
We’ve got this issue around the province, so why do you think that Moosomin is the first to turn it around and say, ‘Let’s give that incentive up front, get some attention and make it easier for people to build their home that way.’
Well, you’ve got a thriving, growing, developing area. You’ve got what I think is probably some of the best business minds in the province in one community—and this is what’s got a lot of folks around you, especially in my constituency, jealous, including Mosaic—the level of support you’ve got in surrounding municipalities.
I just had that conversation at the football game on Sunday with some Mosaic people who were wondering how they could get that many municipalities involved in projects in our constituency. They were looking at the Moosomin airport, where you got Nutrien and the province on board and all those municipalities contributing.
It is incredible. So now you’ve got the eye and ear and attention of Mosaic Corporate wondering how they can replicate that in their communities.
I’m so proud that I chaired the meeting in the last week of February 2023 when Nutrien and the government came on board, and then was there when the Air Ambulance landed for the first time.
I was at that meeting, and what nobody in this province realizes, Kevin, including our government people, the value of air ambulance, even over STARS, is more. I think there are twice as many air ambulance flights than there are STARS flights and there are a lot of STARS flights. I think that’s amazing what you were able to do there.
