PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
The official magazine and voice
of the Saskatchewan Heavy
Construction Association
Published for
1939 Elphinstone St.
Regina, SK S4T 3N3
Phone: 306-586-1805
Fax: 306-585-3750
www.saskheavy.ca
President, Shantel Lipp
Financial Officer, Ellie Weare
Administrative Assistant, Monisha Joysuree-Caullechurn
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701 Henry Ave.
Winnipeg, MB R3E 1T9
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President, Jeff Lester
Publisher, Jill Harris
EDITORIAL
Editor, Andrew Harris
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© Copyright 2017 SHCA.
All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may
not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part,
without the prior written consent of SHCA. Direct requests
for reprint permission should be made to the president
of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association.
Statements of fact and opinion are the responsibility of
the authors alone and do not imply an opinion on the part
of the officers or members of the Saskatchewan Heavy
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SHANTEL LIPP, PRESIDENT, SHCA
Forecasting
2017
Instability and uncertainty are on the
horizon as we sail into a new year.
With the Saskatchewan govern-ment
grappling with how to best deal with
a looming deficit in the neighbourhood of $1
billion, we can anticipate the upcoming pro-vincial
budget to be tight. Cuts and draw-backs
are expected, though it’s difficult to
gauge which sectors will be targeted.
It is crucial, however, that the heavy con-struction
industry within Saskatchewan
remains active through this economic
slowdown and with maintained spending
on our primary means of transportation.
The Saskatchewan economy is reliant
on trade with global markets. With a heavy
emphasis on importing and exporting, it is
vital we maintain our infrastructure to sup-port
the efficiency and timely movement of
our goods and services.
Toward the latter part of 2016, the Saskatch-ewan
Heavy Construction Association lobbied
hard with government ministries to ensure
that when it came to the treasury board table
that they remembered the difference between
the economy and their operating budget.
Taxpayers indicated that infrastructure is
among the top three priorities in this prov-ince
moving forward. That’s because good
roads mean jobs and growth and business
transactions, among other benefits, like:
• $5.1 billion in provincial GDP
• 46,000 jobs within the province, with
23,000 of those direct industry jobs
• $1.3 billion in federal and provincial
government revenues
While we wait for what unfolds in 2017,
it’s important to highlight a few of the ma-jor
events from the past year:
• SHCA successfully lobbied for the
largest planned budget commitment
made by the provincial government of
$2.7 billion dollars, with an additional
$70 million surge for targeted
maintenance over the next three years.
Of that surge money, approximately
$30 million was invested in the Highways
2020 Plan last year. Repairs were made
to more than 460 kilometres of highways
throughout the province.
• SHCA supported the Enbridge Line 3
Replacement Program and participated
in the Natural Resources Canada
engagement program. At $7.5 billion,
this will be one of North America’s
largest pipeline infrastructure programs,
with an anticipated construction start
date later this year. This pipeline will
stretch across both provincial borders
– in the west near Kerrobert and in
the southeast near Moosomin.
• Also in 2016, SHCA successfully lobbied
for government regulatory and policy
updates that included changes to the
Ministry of Highway’s current EPS
specification, as well as innovative reform
to provincial procurement guidelines.
Looking ahead to 2017, we will contin-ue
to aggressively push back on a federally
issued carbon tax on high-emitting indus-tries.
In line with this, we will endeavour to
find cost-effective alternative fuel sources
and delivery methods for our members.
With regards to education, we will be
working with Saskatchewan Polytechnic on
the heavy equipment operator program and
reviewing its curriculum. SHCA will be can-vassing
its members for feedback and input
regarding the program curriculum, devel-opment
and delivery. Is the curriculum rel-evant
and current? Keep in mind, this is a
crucial position within our companies.
As well, because of the turnover seen in
several rural municipalities, we will be work-ing
with newly elected officials and deliver-ing
education sessions on the importance of
safety. This is a new initiative that will focus
on high hazard work, the importance of hir-ing
contractors with COR certification and
ensuring safe work procedures.
saskheavy.ca | Quarter 1 2017 | Think BIG 5
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