In Lloydminster, being on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan is more than a quirk of geography. It’s a daily test of patience for ordinary citizens.
Policies from both provinces collide here, often leaving residents caught in the gaps while bureaucrats dictate from afar.
Read more: Column: Bridging the gap, online
A prime example is our healthcare system. On one side of the street, you’re under Alberta Health Services. Cross over, and you’re suddenly in Saskatchewan’s system. That division doesn’t just confuse residents, it can delay treatment, impede health file sharing and waste time for people who need care.
Something like the “needs assessment” appears to have been created just for
Lloydminster and area. No new hospital, long-term care, urgent care, or anything can be considered before Sask Health Authority and government officials, gets their third version of that document.
Meanwhile, up the road in the Battlefords, a new urgent care is in the planning phases. No needs assessment was done there.
And healthcare is only the start. Housing, social services and infrastructure are all made more complicated because of our “uniqueness.”
We even have a special tax in Lloydminster to make up for a funding gap in the way education is delivered.
The deeper issue is government overreach. Both provinces insist on applying their full bureaucratic weight without considering how Lloydminster really works.
Instead of working together to design seamless solutions, they cling to provincial pride. The result is a tangle of conflicting rules, policies and red tape that burdens citizens rather than serves them.
What Lloydminster needs is not more provincial government regulations, but less of them. At this point, residents don’t care about who does something here; they just want something done.
They care about being able to access healthcare, run a business and send their kids to school without possibly dealing with two seemingly incompatible systems.
They need provincial leadership willing to recognize that this city isn’t just a pawn in provincial turf wars, but a community with our own challenges that demand practical cooperation.
That co-operation is possible. There’s no reason Alberta and Saskatchewan couldn’t create better joint agreements that streamline services, cut duplication, and let Lloydminster focus on growth instead of paperwork.
A city leader recently said it best. If the provinces could create policies that work in Lloydminster, that policy will work anywhere.
But if politics and pandering to votes take precedence over problem-solving, the people of this border city will keep paying the price.
We are a prime example of how government overreach and underservice costs more than just time, it can cost lives.
Until Edmonton and Regina stop posturing and start working together, Lloydminster will remain stuck. Hearing the same line: “Other communities’ needs are more important than ours.”
That arbitrary line which divides us and makes us unique, might as well be a wall some days, one residents keep banging their head against in frustration.
In the words of Ronald Reagan. “Tear down that wall!”
We’d be much better off if they did.
Read more: Column: Tyranny or public safety?
