Government invests $20M over four years in provincial parks
TheStarPhoenix.com
Published: Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Saskatchewan Provincial Parks got a boost Tuesday morning with its announcement that the number of electrified campsites is being increased by 1,000 over the next four years.
As part of the provincial government's $20 million, four-year investment in provincial parks, 302 campsites will be electrified, including 89 in Pike Lake Provincial Park.
Electrical upgrading of campsites will also take place in Makwa Lake, the Battlefords Provincial Parks and Emma Lake Recreation site.
The funding will also go towards the construction of campground buildings, including new campground service centres in Echo Valley, Rowan's Ravine and Danielson Provincial Parks. A visitor centre and cafe will be built in Cypress Hills and a new beach changehouse in the Battlefords Provincial Parks.
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Sask.'s economic boom get national showcase
CBC's The National goes on the road to tell province's story
Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Peter Mansbridge recalls a time when selling Saskatchewan potash to China was a difficult task.
"I remember going with premier (Allan) Blakeney to China, where he was trying to sell it in 1976, trying to break through to the China market, and it was just a really difficult trip for him on that front," said the award-winning CBC news anchor.
Clearly, times have changed. Back then, Mansbridge said, a tonne of potash sold for $40. In April, the largest distributor of fertilizer products in China -- Sinofert Holdings Ltd. -- agreed to pay $576 US per tonne for the rose-hued nutrient.
The increase in value of Saskatchewan's natural resources, such as potash, is one of the contributing factors to the province's recent economic growth. That growth is the reason why Mansbridge is bringing his team to Saskatoon today for a special edition of CBC News: The National.
Saskaboom, the latest edition of the program's Road Stories feature, will touch on Saskatchewan's good fortune and the challenges it brings, Mansbridge said Monday in an interview from his Toronto office.
"I think the success story of Saskatchewan is one that most Canadians, if you stopped them on the street, probably wouldn't know, and it's a great Canadian story and it should be known," he said
"For (Saskatchewan residents) it will be like just scratching the surface of the story, but for most Canadians it will be their first sense of how well things are going, how the boom has affected life in many parts of the province."
Mansbridge, who lived in Regina and worked as The National's Saskatchewan correspondent in the mid-1970s, believes the focus on Saskatchewan may help central and eastern Canadians clue in to what their western cousins are up to.
"I remember what it was like when I lived both in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and feeling that Toronto, especially, ignored Western Canada," he said. "That sort of runs through a lot of life in the West, not just journalism, but the railways and you name it."
The program will feature stories on how the community of Weyburn is dealing with the boom, the province's housing market and labour shortage and an interview with Premier Brad Wall, among other topics. By the end of the show, Mansbridge hopes Canadians will understand the importance of what is happening in Saskatchewan.
"The bottom line is that Saskatchewan is doing extremely well and in some ways they're trying to manage that good fortune, because if there's anybody in this country it's the people of the West who know things can turn around in a hurry," he said.
Mansbridge's live broadcast of CBC News: The National, Road Stories -- Saskaboom will air on The National at 10 p.m. and on CBC Newsworld at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. CST.
ckyle@sp.canwest.com
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
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CBC promotional video:
Road Stories - SASKABOOM
"It's a prairie powerhouse...Is Saskatchewan becoming the next Alberta?..."
More fuel for the fire
