Premiers plan a refresh in Lloyd

Lloydminster is on tap to refresh bi-provincial issues on healthcare, education and policing to the delight of Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith plan to meet with Aalbers again in early 2025 to support these services.

"We look to both provinces for sustainable funding," said Aalbers during a joint media scrum with both premiers at the Lloydminster Heavy Oil Show on Sept. 11.

"The opportunities are immense. If you can make legislation and governance work at a provincial level in Lloydminster, we can make it work in any one of the two provinces."

Aalbers noted a follow-up meeting with the same faces hinges on him and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe winning their respective municipal and provincial elections this fall.

"Hopefully we can pull that off," he said looking at a January or February meeting with both provincial cabinets coming to Lloydminster.

Aalbers noted Lloydminster hosted a meeting with the two provincial health ministers earlier this year.

"It was a great opportunity to lay some issues out and I think we've got some direction from them," he said.

"We would like to have those further conversations with the premiers because, at the end of the day, it ends up in the cabinet looking for money."

Smith said the different election cycles of the three leaders make it complicated to be on the same page.

"If I have a three-year runway and the mayor and the premier (Moe) have another four-year runway, we have a lot of stability to sort through some of these issues," she said.

Smith says that Lloyd, Saskatchewan runs the hospital system and education, noting there is a bi-provincial issue with policing.

Currently, the city is responsible for 90 per cent of policing costs and the federal government the remaining 10 per cent.

Lloydminster receives an annual grant of $575,000 from Alberta, but Saskatchewan isn't contributing any funding to the city for policing covering the two provinces.

"The simplified way of operating this is, we would just have a funding arrangement where we would figure out what the population base is and have a simplified formula to be able to pay our share," said Smith.

"If that's not working well at the moment, then I'm committed to make sure it does work well."

Premier Moe had little to say about policing costs other than stating policing in Lloyd switched from F to K division some time ago.

"What is more pertinent to today's conversation is around education and healthcare," said Moe.

He said he commits to having a conversation about what would work best for Lloydminster when it comes to education and healthcare to ensure that people in the community aren't dealing with two systems from time to time.

"We've had many conversations around ambulance services, those kinds of things over the last number of years," said Moe.

He says it's not a conversation that has just started today.

"This is an ongoing conversation and it needs to continue to be an ongoing conversation," he said

"We're here to listen and work with the community and what works best for the people that live here."

Moe referred to what Aalbers told the media about Lloydminster doubling in size over the past 35 years and is trying to build capacity in both the healthcare system and the education system to match growth.

"What does this look like moving forward and what is in the best interests of people that live here today and are going to live here tomorrow?" asked Moe.

"I think we're open to that conversation. I would be open to it should I be successful in a provincial election."