The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor As MLA for Creighton and Denare Beach, Doyle Vermette is a long way from his days as head of the parent council at his children's school. It was in that role at Air Ronge's Gordon Denny School in the 1990s that he developed a passion for listening to people's worries and doing his best to address them. Positions of greater prominence followed. Vermette was an alderman for Air Ronge, president of the local M_tis Nation of Saskatchewan branch, and a trustee (and later chairperson) with the Northern Lights School Division. He was so well thought of that when Joan Beatty abruptly left her job as MLA for northeastern Saskatchewan's Cumberland constituency in early 2008, people began urging him to try and replace her. Vermette accepted the challenge, secured the NDP nomination, and campaigned as if he were the underdog. He narrowly won a 2008 by-election and easily held onto his seat in last year's general election. This week, The Reminder conducted a detailed interview with Vermette on a range of topics. * * * REMINDER: Creighton Town Council has been lobbying to have residents pay the same, cheaper electricity rates as Flin Flon given the proximity of the communities and the fact that their power comes from the same source. In fact until 1985, Creighton and Flin Flon did pay the same rates. Do you favour an order to compel SaskPower to lower its rates in Creighton, thereby helping to level the playing field between Creighton and its neighbour just across the border? VERMETTE: The disparity is concerning, and the NDP supports initiatives to maintain affordable utility service for all Saskatchewan residents. The former NDP government provided Saskatchewan the lowest-cost utility bundle rates in the nation. Unfortunately, under the Sask. Party government the rates have increased. REMINDER: What is the single biggest need right now for Creighton and Denare Beach? What are you doing to address this need? What is the Wall government doing or not doing to address it? VERMETTE: Families in Creighton and Denare Beach are facing issues of affordability for everyday needs, a lack of opportunity which means that too many of the people of the North aren't seeing changes that benefit themselves and their families. The Sask. Party government has been putting politicians ahead of the people of the North. See 'Stock...'on pg. 14 Continued from pg.1 The Post says QMX's stock lost about 30 per cent of its value between Sept. 12, when the deal was announced, to last week, when the decision was made to not proceed with the offering. A feasibility study released in 2010 showed the Snow Lake Mine has a five-year lifespan, though QMX is hopeful gold reserves can be increased. Alexis' continued talk of restarting the mine, with no opening to date, has sparked some pessimism in Snow Lake over whether the project will ever actually proceed.
