Moose Javians launch petition to restore provincial funding to Wakamow Valley

A group calling themselves Friends of Wakamow are circulating a petition around Moose Jaw, Sask. in an effort to restore provincial funding to the park.

In the provincial budget, $540,000 to fund urban parks in Moose Jaw, The Battlefords, Swift Current, Weyburn, and Prince Albert was cut.

“For $157,000 of funding that we all pay our tax dollars for, and all of a sudden they said it’s not going to be there anymore. I don’t think that rationale is correct,” Friends of Wakamow member Lorn Hill said.

That $157,000 represented about 35 per cent of the 450 acre park’s budget. Sixty per cent comes from the city of Moose Jaw, and the remaining five per cent from the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw.

READ MORE: ‘Disappointing doesn’t even cover it”, reaction to urban parks budget cut

“The loss of a third of your funding really hits you hard,” Wakamow Valley Authority CEO Margaret Moran said.

Moran said the cut couldn’t have come at a worse possible time. Wakamow was already into its fiscal year when the provincial budget was released, and she’d counted on the money coming.

She said the park now has to push back the purchase of new equipment, and more upsetting to her, Moran had to lay-off four maintenance workers.

“Our staff is so dedicated to keeping this park well. We’re very fortunate to have those people in place. So it was very hard to let those people go, they’re like family to us to be honest,” she said.

For additional city funding, Moran said she doesn’t know what the future holds. Moran said Moose Jaw’s budget is already stretched due to infrastructure projects like replacing cast iron water mains.

The October 26 municipal election also makes it difficult to talk to city council members about the 2017 budget.

Moran will be meeting with her counter parts on September 22 and 23, when the Association of Saskatchewan Urban Parks and Conservation Agencies meets in Weyburn, Sask.

Moran said they’ll make a game plan on how to best lobby the government in an attempt to restore funding.