Rocanville indoor pool project receives additional $1.8 million grant
September 1, 2025, 8:08 am
by Ashley Bochek
The Rocanville pool refurbishment project has been awarded an additional $1.8 million from the federal-provincial ICIP (Investing in Canadian Infrastructure Program) grant, more than doubling the grant to cover higher costs.
The original federal-provincial grant was for $1,269,782. The revised grant is for more than double—$3,091,104, an increase of $1,821,322.
The community has been working toward finishing the new indoor pool project for the past four years. The new pool was recently named the Universe Satellite Aquatic Centre.
Rocanville Mayor Ron Reed says the project is in its final stages and the increased grant will make a big difference.
“It is progressing. The major construction for the most part is just about done. We are getting into the more finishing steps now. There is still a little bit of final work to do electrical-wise, HVAC-wise, and then little finishing details—tile in the bathrooms, flooring. The pool liners are done, they just finished that recently. So that is good progress there. There is still a fair amount of work yet to go, but we are getting there.”
Higher grant will reduce borrowing
The additional $1.8 million from the ICIP grant will help by reducing the local portion of the cost of the project, so funds that would have gone to loan payments can go instead to maintenance and operating costs.
“It means that the money that would have gone toward the loan payment, we don’t have to go that route anymore because now it can just be spent on other things for the community, whether that is different infrastructure, different facility upgrades, or better maintenance—whatever the case might be—it gives quite a bit more freedom to look at other projects for the town to be able to complete those in the near future.”
Reed explains the additional grant money will replace the town’s loan payment. “The grant money all has to go toward the pool, but we had taken out a loan that would have covered what initially wasn’t covered by the grant, but now this will basically replace the loan so we won’t have that payment and brings us up year after year.”
He explains before the additional funding was announced, raising taxes was a possibility. “We got to a point where we thought we might have to raise taxes in order to pull this project off, but as we got closer and closer toward completing it, we got to the point where we did have an additional money stream coming with a change to the potash tax sharing split, and that extra funding was to be set aside for the foreseeable future to pay off the pool so it was going to be a status quo as far as tax-wise, we were going to have to raise taxes in order to fund the pool, it was just this extra government cashflow that is going to go toward the loan payment. It was impacting us directly, but indirectly now we are able to either look at lowering taxes for some of these other projects that don’t need to happen in the foreseeable future—there are always projects that need to get done in a town, but this definitely gives us the freedom to do them sooner rather than later.”
Regional facility
Reed says the council is excited to spread the news to surrounding communities in the area.
“We do see this is a regional facility as much as we love having it in Rocanville, we are seeing it as a benefit to the surrounding communities as well. We are able to spread that word internally within the town of Rocanville relatively easily, but on a broader scale, whether that is Facebook or the World-Spectator will help spread that word out to some of the other communities near us.
“I know when I first looked at the area, we did some research on Rocanville before we moved, and seeing that they had an indoor pool called the Four Seasons Aquatic Centre, we were really excited to have a pool that was going to be open all year around. We definitely took advantage of it when my kids were younger growing up with it. It can only be a benefit to everyone in the community and the area. We are definitely going to have an upgrade with this facility, so seeing the possibilities whether that is other communities coming for hockey tournaments and having some spare time in town and able to take advantage of facilities like this. The grant was a gamechanger for us. It was going to be a longterm commitment to getting it all paid off and we were fairly committed to doing it without any major increase of taxes which is ultimately looks like what we are going to be able to do. So that is amazing for the community.”
He says the project has been funded by many businesses within the area.
“The extra funding did increase up to what we had been looking at for our overall project cost of about $4.2 million, but of that, it is still only paid out at 73 per cent of that amount so just a little over $3 million is going to be funded by the government. We did have fundraisers and donations from community businesses that came in ahead of time and for the most part, it looks like the majority of the overall project costs are going to be done, but that still gives us some freedom now before things are finished up to potentially look at getting more things in place for day one type thing. We have been reached out to by our local swim team, the Rocanville Tiger Sharks, about diving blocks, things like that that we can definitely look at still needing fundraising in order to accomplish.”
Lots of excitement
Reed says members of the town council were ecstatic after hearing the additional funding awarded to the project.
“We announced it to our current council at our meeting and there were jaws hitting the floor. We had our rec director there and the amount of time we have been putting into this project, she has spent a lot of time and energy getting this project off the ground, and so when you hear that you are being rewarded—so to speak—for the time and energy you have put into it—there was a lot of people that were very excited. We have a younger council this year, but we let our old council know as well because they were very much involved with getting this project off the ground to start with. Everyone is excited and we can’t wait to get the word out to more people in the community.
“I am very excited to see the pool open. The time and effort in the refurbishment committee, councils were very much involved with volunteer hours back in the old building to get prepped for demolition. It was kind of sad to see it come down, but definitely to see the progress on the finished project on the new pool—and I’ve been really lucky to be onsite during construction and see some of the progress, and I am very excited to see it finally open for the community.”
He says the pool will have an opening day for the community, “We are going to have a soft opening once it gets to the point where we can use it as a pool—there is all the planning such as emergency plans, training our lifeguards, getting everybody comfortable with the mechanical system and how everything works. It is going to be used as a pool before we have that opening date to the public. We are hoping everything goes well. We want to make sure the facility is working like we forsee it will before we look at doing an opening to the public.”
Supports future economic growth
Town Administrator Tanya Standlund says the additional grant money will help the future economic growth of Rocanville.
“It’s not just this money that affects the pool, it is going to affect the community for decades. The money that we would be paying off the loan that the town got to complete the pool project is now going to be able to be put back into the community. It is unbelievable what this money does for the community of Rocanville for 25 years.
“Basically the additional money is going to be put back into the infrastructure of the town for the first little while. This additional grant money means we can put more money back into the town. It might be into paving, maybe a different rec facility, or to the water and sewer side—I can’t say exactly what it is going to be put toward, but it just allows a bit more breathing room every year for the town council to invest back into the town.”
She says the additional funding was first talked about in April. “I get goosebumps every time I think about it, because it is unreal. I have never in my life heard of this. I have only been in this position for four years, but generally speaking, your grants never just double the amount. It is unheard of. I was in disbelief to start. I was given a phone call back in April that unfortunately due to other projects that did not happen with ICIP grants, so that funding was put back into the pot and that we might be eligible for it. There was no promise—it was being talked about, but needed to be proposed and approved. Basically, since April it has been a waiting game and hope-and-pray that it goes through. They basically said once the federal government approves it we will let you know and it has been a tough waiting game because it is so exciting, but nothing was promised until the actual agreement came through.
“It is astronomical. It changes the projection of what we build. We will be able to continue to grow, continue to welcome new families, and improve what we are already giving to the community. All of the services that we are providing we are going to be able to just do more and better.”
