Question period came to a close for the week Thursday morning in Regina with the official opposition asking the provincial government if they’ll commit to providing more secondary shelters for women and if Saskatchewan workers will be on the site for construction of a new power plant near Moose Jaw.
Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, Tina Beaudry-Mellor says the government will look into providing more second-stage housing for domestic violence victims by continuing to see what opportunities there are to co-ordinate resources to ensure domestic-violence victims are looked after.
NDP critic, Nicole Sauer says the people of Saskatchewan need more than just a commitment to look into the issue.
Beaudry-Mellor did say that the province needs to work a little harder when it comes to awareness and prevention, adding that there will be announcements coming out in the near future.
There are federal dollars available to build more shelters, although the NDP says operators can’t build them given that Saskatchewan is one of the only provinces that doesn’t provide operating funding for second-stage housing.
In terms of a new SaskPower natural gas plant that is expected to go online in 2024 near Moose Jaw, the NDP questioned the SaskParty government’s shortlist of companies to construct the facility. The province has shortlisted two companies, both of which are based out of the U.S. but have offices in Canada.
One of the companies shortlisted, Burns and McDonnell worked on the Chinook Power Plant near Swift Current which officially opened in December.
Dustin Duncan, Minister of Environment says the government will ensure that local businesses will benefit from the construction of the plant.
“Through the procurement we’ll want to ensure that Saskatchewan businesses can fully take part in the procurement of a new power plant for the city of Moose Jaw Mr. Speaker and certainly SaskPower and SaskBuilds will ensure that will be the case.”
Duncan adds that $140 million dollars in benefits to locals businesses were achieved through the building of the Chinook Power Plant.
The new plant near Moose Jaw is expected to power a city the size of Saskatoon.
