Work continues on Moosomin Airport Expansion

August 23, 2023, 10:29 am
by Kevin Weedmark


Work continues on the Moosomin Airport Expansion thanks to joint funding from local municipalities, local businesses, the provincial government, and Nutrien.
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Work continues on the Moosomin airport expansion, planned to allow the Saskatchewan Air Ambulance to access the Moosomin area.

The airport is being funded by local municipalities, local businesses, Nutrien, and the provincial government.

The project became $4 million closer to reality after announcements by Nutrien and the provincial government over the winter of new funding for the expansion.

Nutrien donated $2,718,902.34 to the project and the province committed $1.3 million above the amount the province has already given, for a combined total of $4 million in new funding for the airport. The Nutrien contribution matches the total government funding for the project.

Before that announcement, municipalities had donated $832,500, the province had committed $866,526.82, and donations from companies and individuals added up to $277,959, for a grand total of $1,976,958.80.

The province announced that day it would contribute the additional $1.3 million from its highways and transportation budget.

“I have to give credit to the community because they’ve really kept this on the radar and really facilitated this discussion,” Highways Minister Jeremy Cockrill said at the time. “When we learned about the possibility of Nutrien coming in as a partner, that’s really when things accelerated in terms of what the government can do to get this over the line. We really view this as a strategic investment in this area, and certainly one that justifies the investment.”

“The pitch for me that really got it over the line was the community involvement,” said Chris Reynolds, President of Potash for Nutrien, at the time of the funding announcement. “That the community was committed to this, the community had taken the initiative to start the fundraising effort, made a difference. It wasn’t just the community saying ‘you’re a big corporation, you have deep pockets, you need to contribute to this.’ They were saying, ‘we’ve got this need in this community, can you help us get there. We’ve started with a portion of the fundraising, can you help us get there, and by the way, the government of Saskatchewan is going to come in as well.’

“I think all of that came together, but the fact that it started from the community was very important.”

“We’ve got a significant investment in this area and we are going to be here for decades to come. This investment for us is just a natural extension of that. So this is just investing in our home. This is investing in our back yard and that’s very important to us. I can’t wait to fly a plane in here and enjoy the new facilities when it’s up and running.”

Community Builders Alliance president Tyler Thorn said at the time of the announcement the airport will save time for both businesses in the area and the health care system by allowing access to the Saskatchewan Air Ambulance.

“In today’s world, time is our greatest asset, an airport is one of the few ways entrepreneurs and health care professionals can buy back time,” he said.

“To those of you who have made the decisions to help fund this project, we understand and appreciate the magnitude of those decisions and our organization fully supports you in those decisions and will continue to work alongside you providing the people and financial resources we have available to help see the project through to completion.”

The province of Saskatchewan announced in June it has committed an additional $222,263 to Moosomin’s Airport project through the Community Airport Partnership program.

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