Area population is on the rise
by Kevin Weedmark
New data from Saskatchewan Health confirms what everyone in the area has suspected—the population in the Moosomin area continues to rise.
Saskatchewan Health keeps track of the population covered by the provincial health system, and tallies the numbers as of June 30 each year.
The numbers have just been released for June 30, 2011, and they show further increases in the population in the Moosomin area.
The population is rising in every community in the region, from the largest to the smallest.
Moosomin has hit a population of 2,891 this year, according to the Saskatchewan Health numbers, up from 2,723 last year and 2,496 two years ago—an increase of 395 people in two years. Prior to that, Moosomin had stayed around the 2,500 mark for several years.
Rocanville has reached a population of 1,250, after cracking the thousand mark for the first time just a few years ago. Rocanville had 1,188 people in 2010 and 1,040 in 2009, an increase of 210 people in two years.
Whitewood has reached a population of 1,243 this year, up from 1,155 last year and 1,006 the year before that.
Redvers has reached a population of 1,346, up from 1,243 last year and 1,055 the year before.
Wawota had a population of 731 as of June 30 of this year, up from 694 last year and 611 two years ago.
Wapella has a population of 501 according to the latest figures from Saskatchewan Health, up from 470 last year and 394 two years ago.
Maryfield has a population of 418, up from 395 last year and 380 two years ago.
Kennedy has a population of 323, down from 333 last year but up from two years ago.
Spy Hill has a population of 266, up from 260 last year and 225 two years ago.
Welwyn has a population of 214 this year, up from 200 last year and 159 two years ago.
Tantallon has a population of 152, up from 140 last year and 115 two years ago.
Fleming has a population of 90, up from 72 last year, and a 10 per cent increase from 82 two years ago.
Fairlight has a population of 62, up from 55 last year, and slightly higher than the 59 population recorded two years ago.
Similar statistics are unavailable for Manitoba communities.
Bradley sees more growth
Moosomin Mayor Don Bradley said he expects to see the growth continue for the forseeable future.
“It will be about 3,000 by next July,” he predicted. “I think we’re looking at 3,500 people within a few years.”
“For us, it’s a challenge to keep up with the infrastructure,” he said.
“People are going to want land, and we’re running out of land. Where there is land, the landowners want a lot of money for it.”
The town is developing 13 new residential building lots at the former site of Moosomin Union Hospital, and Bradley expects those lots to go quickly.
“The priority is to get those done in the spring,” he said. “We have three of those lots spoken for already—there are 10 left.
“We don’t have a lot more land to develop, so in the future it will be up to developers to buy land and develop it.”
He said the town has to look at adding to its infrastructure and adding more pavement while trying to hold the line on taxes.
“We’ve got paving issues we’ve got to get done, but we always try to hold the line on taxes as much as we can,” he said. “You have to keep it affordable for people to live here.”
Bradley said he’s happy to see that many of the new people moving to the area are choosing to make their home in Moosomin.
“Moosomin is lucky where we are,” he said. “We have the services in this community a lot of places don’t have.
“When people are looking at moving here, they ask, what about your health services? What about your recreation facilities? What kind of businesses do you have in your town? What kind of educational services do you have? And we’re lucky that we have better services than a lot of towns around. We have excellent health care. We have excellent recreation facilities.
“Everything adds to your community—your businesses add to it, your churches add to it. The other thing people want to know is, is it affordable to live there? They have lots of places that they can go but this is a popular place. We’ve got jobs here, our crime rate is low—it’s a good place to live.”
“There’s going to be a new council this year, there will be some changes on council and maybe the next council will have a different approach. But I think we’re lucky where we live and we’re going to keep seeing new people want to live here.”
Toth sees
signs of growth
Moosomin MLA Don Toth says he isn’t surprised by the rate of growth reflected in the latest figures, and he believes the provincial government has been proactive in accommodating growing communities.
“We’ve already seen between the federal and provincial governments the sense that there would be population growth with the growing economy, and both levels of government stepped up to the plate to address the infrastructure needs that were being expressed by local governments,” he said.
“I believe there is certainly an awareness that we have to discuss how we move forward and be mindful of the fact that this government has committed to providing one per cent of provincial tax to municipal governments. As economic activity increases, that one per cent will add up to more and more.”
Housing is one area where some communities are feeling a pinch, and Toth said there has been a lot of discussion around the issue at the provincial level.
“Housing has been an ongoing issue,” he said. “In the first four years of the Saskatchewan Party government there was a significant contribution of funds to address low rental housing in the province, and now there’s a five-point plan, and part of that plan is working with communities, non-profit groups or individuals to construct affordable housing.”
Toth says he can see the impact of growth on communities throughout the region.
“I was down at Carlyle recently for the Moose Mountain Air Cadets’ Christmas event, and I was amazed at the construction going on in Carlyle. What they’ve developed for land has been all picked up. We see the same thing in Moosomin, we see it in Rocanville, we see it in Whitewood.
“With the potash expansion, that is only going to continue. There is a lot of economic activity, which then points to greater job growth, more housing units, and greater income for communities.
“The issue for a lot of towns is that, all of a sudden there’s such a large demand, so there’s some significant initial outlay in expanding infrastructure and developing lots until they see the return through an expanded tax base down the road. That’s probably the greatest stress—the sudden influx.”
McLellan
encouraged
Steve McLellan, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, says he is happy to see the new population figures.
“I think it’s very encouraging,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
“When we started our growth strategy, we wanted to see the number of towns over 2,500 increase, and we have seen that,” he said. “This is sustainable growth. We don’t want all the growth in Regina and Saskatoon, we want it all around the province. We need good health care and a good range of business opportunities and job opportunities around the province.”
He said he’s not surprised to see the growth figures for the Moosomin area.
“I suspect a lot of those communities in around the potash and around the oil are seeing growth and will continue to grow,” he said.
“It’s a reflection of the mineral resources we have in this province, and thank goodness we’re going after these minerals as aggressively as we are.”
He said there is some work to do to accommodate the growth.
“We need homes for all these new people. The first priority is housing. We’re having a hard look at it. We need to figure out more creative solutions.”
McLellan said municipalities will also have to work more closely together to encourage growth.
“There are a lot of different municipalities with regulatory challenges we should be looking at,” he said.
“In the building permit process, sometimes an RM has one set of regulations and a neighboring town has another.
“In some of the cities, including Swift Current and Saskatoon, there’s a need for expansion, but the RMs are standing in the way. There’s a process that leads to the urban municipality eventually winning, but we’ve got to get beyond that whole issue. People need homes. These silly little fights over who should control the tax on a quarter section of land are ridiculous. Any RM that stands in the way of growth should be run out of town on a rail.”
McLellan also suggests municipalities should be doing more to share services or work together.
“Take a look at the number of RMs under 100 people,” he said. “It’s crazy. When one landowner owns 70 per cent of an RM, do we need that RM?”
He said the province needs to start looking at encouraging municipalities to work together.
“We need to have conversations,” he said. “It’s not about towns or cities stealing tax revenue from RMs, it’s about where we want to be in five or 10 years.
“Fortunately, the conversation is starting. In Balgonie and Pilot Butte, they’re looking at sharing services. Around Kenaston, there’s a group of 45 municipalites working together. They have started the conversation.”
McLellan said the province also has to be open to creative solutions to the challenges that come with growth.
“As the population of these communities increase so does the cost of infrastructure—streets, sewer, and water—and sometimes the regulations make it impossible to meet those needs.
“We’ve had conversations with people in Carlyle who have built a lift station but now they have gone to the max on borrowing—the province won’t let them borrow any more. But now they need a lagoon. That’s a problem. They can’t grow until they build that lagoon, and the province says they can’t borrow to build that lagoon.
“Is there another way to do that? What if a group of business people got involved, built the lagoon and leased it to the town? Will the province allow that? We don’t know yet.”
McLellan sees no limit to the growth potential of Saskatchewan.
“We can see this growth continuing as long as we find more creative ways to build more homes and solve a couple of other hiccups,” he said.
“Five years down the road we’ll see a continuation of growth with some creative solutions to our problems. We’ll celebrate the fact that there’s a mosaic of people within our communities and we’ll celebrate the fact that our workforce is well educated and happy to be living here.”
Growth reflects prosperity
Moosomin Chamber of Commerce president Ed Hildebrandt said he was pleased but not surprised to hear how quickly communities in the area are growing.
“I think it is a reflection of the economic prosperity of the region,” he said.
“It puts a strain on the existing infrastructure, however we’ll deal with that.”
He said the growth is good news for local businesses.
“It’s very encouraging for the business community, and it’s a notice to the business community that there is a continuing increase in the need for the existing services and additional services,” he said.
“It’s great news, and I expect this trend to continue in the forseeable future. I am convinced we will be well over 3,000 in 2012.”
