(file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Provincial budget 2023

Town mayor pleased with support for new district care home in budget

Mar 22, 2023 | 5:52 PM

Town of Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie appreciated the province earmarked support to replace the aged Battlefords District Care Centre- nursing home/long-term care facility in Battleford, as announced in the province’s new budget released this afternoon.

“A big [project] in the health side was the announcement of [investing] planning dollars to look at building a new district care/regional care [facility] in Battleford,” he said. “That was really something that, as mayor, I’ve been advocating through our MLA, and to Saskatchewan Health as a need. And, so have many people in our community. So, that was great to see.”

Leslie said it’s time that facility gets replaced.

“This is the first good step for all the patients of regional care, and as well, anybody who works out there, to transition them hopefully to a new modern state-of-the-art facility to help out on that side of health,” he said. “That was really exciting to hear that.”

Leslie said he looks forward to discussions with the provincial government and SaskHealth in the next few weeks, as to what that will mean, and some timelines for the project.

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He said overall there were “some good numbers” in the province’s new budget.

The mayor said on the surface, the overall 6.7 per cent increase in healthcare spending looks interesting. He is looking forward to seeing more about what that will be used for when the numbers are broken down.

“That’s a nice sizeable increase, which is pretty close to the rate of inflation,” he said. “I’m excited to see that.”

Leslie was also glad to see funding in the budget for social services, which he said has often been a focus related to mental health and additions issues.

“It will be interesting to see where those dollars will land and be spent,” he said.

The mayor also commented on the province working to bring down the provincial debt, which is a challenge. Some of the debt occurred as an impact from the COVID pandemic. Leslie said it’s good to see the province starting to pay that down.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, that means more money in the pockets of everybody if the province has less debt,” he said.

Looking at some points where the budget came in a little short, Leslie said he was hoping to see more funding for more RCMP members or projects.

But he acknowledged it’s still early with the budget release at this time, as more details about all the spends are still to come, “as more and more of the budget gets rolled out.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow