By TERRY PUGH
Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk is hopeful an upcoming meeting with the Minister of Health will eventually lead to improved access to health care services for residents of the city and surrounding region.
“Warman Council has sent a letter to Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill outlining the need for improved health care access and better emergency ambulance services for our residents,” said Philipchuk during a Warman City Council meeting on Monday, July 21. “We are really hoping for some movement on that file.”
In a social media post on the city’s website following the council meeting, Philipchuk noted that improving access to primary health care providers in Warman has been a high priority for city officials for many years.
“We are continuing that journey that we’ve been on for all five years that I’ve been Mayor, and even previous to that,” said Philipchuk. “We will be having a meeting with Minister Cockrill, and also with our local MLA (Social Services Minister) Terry Jenson. That’s to consider the discussion on better emergency services and improved health care access for our residents. Both of those are things that we are wanting to see movement on.”
Warman City Council is also continuing to wrestle with the proposed location of a regional joint-use high school.
Council recently sent a letter to Education Minister Everett Hindley outlining its concerns regarding the joint-use school proposed for Corman Park east of Martensville.
“We are waiting for answers from the Ministry about the concerns raised in the letter,” said Philipchuk during the July 21 council meeting. “Once the details are provided to us by the Ministry, then we’ll be able to make an informed decision.”
On a third front, Warman Council is following the City of Martensville’s lead in asking the province to change the Vehicle For Hire Act to allow ride share services to operate province-wide instead of having to obtain licenses with individual jurisdictions.
Philipchuk said the City of Warman has sent a letter to Minister Responsible for SGI Jeremy Harrison asking for the province to remove the municipal licensing requirement for ride share companies like Uber.
In his social media video post following the council meeting, Philipchuk said the City of Warman “has been pushing for ride share for the longest time. We passed a motion as council saying that we accept ride share in our community but there are some legal issues that don’t allow it to happen.”