Rob Schiefele has an idea worth repeating.
Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach have received a combined $1.15 million from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization for their participation in NWMO’s site-selection process.
Schiefele, a long-time area resident, recently took to Facebook to suggest the money be tossed into a single pile and used to help upgrade the Aqua Centre or to establish a more elaborate recreational facility for our region.
The concept makes sense on multiple levels.
First, these are gifted dollars, not tax dollars. Any complaints residents in one community may have about “their money” going to fund a project in another community would be null and void.
Second, the NWMO process itself was a perfect illustration of how our three area communities can work together for a common purpose. In this light, the idea of spending these funds together is not a stretch.
Lastly, let’s remember that these dollars can’t simply be added to each municipality’s general coffers to pay for new roads or to fix broken pipes.
The cash, to my understanding, is meant for more community-oriented types of projects: your parks, your ball diamonds, your spray pools and so on.
We don’t need any more parks, ball diamonds, spray pools and so on. What we do need is an upgraded swimming pool or, better yet, a brand new regional recreational facility not unlike the failed CommunityPlex proposal of 2004-05.
The CommunityPlex, many will recall, was going to be built near the Phantom Lake Golf Course and incorporate different recreational amenities such as a pool, curling rink and auditorium.
Government funding never came through — some behind-the-scenes folks tell me the two provincial governments had trouble collaborating — and the project fizzled.
I’m not saying $1.15 million is enough to deliver a new recreation centre or a new pool, or even bring the pool we have up to more modern standards. Indeed, a committee looking to revamp the Aqua Centre has found the most public support in an option that costs $7.7 million.
But you know what? A million bucks and change isn’t a bad start, and it would illustrate to other levels of government how committed our region is.
If the Manitoba government could stop blowing up rocks along Highway 10 long enough to see the importance of a refurbished pool, perhaps they too could become a partner.
And if the stingy, free-market-worshipping Saskatchewan government could come through with dollars of its own, followed by the feds, the next thing you know a new or revamped pool looks feasible.
Another idea worth discussing revolves around the need for a personal care home in Creighton.
Many of us have heard the heartbreaking stories of Creighton seniors forced to leave their home community (and province) for Flin Flon when they require long-term care.
Recently, folks have been floating the concept of the Mamawetan Churchill River Health Region (MCRHR) purchasing the vacant Prospector Inn and converting it into a personal care home.
I have no idea if that’s logistically possible with all of the standards around personal care homes. Besides, I’d love to see the Prospector attract a new owner, because as much as our region needs more care home beds, it also needs accommodations for visitors and the jobs lost when the motel closed.
The best-case scenario is not converting the Prospector into a care home; it’s building a brand new care home in Creighton.
At a public meeting in July, an MCRHR consultant told Creightonites the province is leaning toward building a 70-bed personal care home in La Ronge — as if seniors from our region should have to move four and a half hours away.
The La Ronge concept is a classic example of big-city bureaucrats looking at a map of the North and boneheadedly assuming we’re a single population with little variation or distance between our communities. Have they ever even been to the North?
The Saskatchewan government needs to come through with dollars for a personal care home in Creighton. The need is already great and will only grow greater.
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