View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week:
Not a person
Okay, in retrospect, we may have made this topic a tad restrictive with local newsmaker of the year. Try as I might, there are only a small handful of possible local top newsmakers.
We will, for the first time in 20 years, have a different member of parliament in 2015, so it might be kind of obvious to say whoever replaces Garry Breitkreuz could be it. I have a couple of problems with this, however. Even though the incumbent is not running again, it is safe to say candidates from other parties are going to have a real uphill battle. If the Conservative wins, I don’t think it’s a big story and I don’t want to predict that there will be an upset for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that at this point my plan is still to seek the Liberal nomination myself.
I also can’t foresee anything particularly noteworthy on the provincial political scene, at least not locally.
That pretty much leaves local government, but the mayor and council are not going to be doing anything big in the near future, not without the support of the feds and province, which is not going to happen particularly with oil prices diving.
And finally, since it is impossible to accurately predict a big fire, natural disaster or particularly heinous crime, I am going to go safe on this and say the big newsmaker of 2015 is going to be Parkland College’s new Trades and Technology Centre. This has been a huge story for Yorkton throughout the project life cycle and its opening will be momentous.
-Thom Barker
Political arena
In a small city picking who are going to be the newsmakers of the coming year leaves one working from a rather small list.
And when looking to 2015 in particular, there is not a lot of big news exactly pending, so predicting where to look even in a small pond is a bit challenging.
A key story which could unfold in the Chambers of Yorkton Council, and certainly should happen, is a serious look at fire protection services in Yorkton.
Following an arbitration tribunal awarding firefighters an 18.1 per cent over three years, a contract which actually comes to an end this year.
At a meeting in December Council requested City Administration to bring a report back to then looking at the service, at costs, and at alternatives.
It is an issue which tends to bring out an emotional response from people, and Council is likely to get lots of feedback on what they should do if they chose to go down a path of significant change.
The other story which will play out with some significance is who will replace Garry Breitkreuz as our MP?
Breitkreuz has been our federal presentative since 1993, when he made some major headlines upsetting then incumbent Lorne Nystrom who had sat from 1968 through 1993.
In Breitkreuz’s case he has announced his retirement opening the field in the sense the election will not have an incumbent on the ballot.
Certainly whoever is victorious will make a headline based on the win alone, and then have eyes on them to see how they serve our constituency moving forward.
Calvin Daniels
Flowers and light
Let me channel my inner psychic for a moment so that I can predict who will be the 2015 Newsmaker of the Year for 2015.
Will it be the Yorkton RawTec Maulers, who may or may not make a big run to the SMAAAHL title?
Or will it be our mayor Bob Maloney?
Ready for the answer?
Well, here it is. The 2015 Newsmaker of the Year for 2015 will be… no one.
Wait, what?
That’s right. Not a single person will be the 2015 Newsmaker of the Year and the reason is actually quite simple.
I predict that, throughout 2015, so many Yorkton people will do so many wonderful things that, in reality, there is no way that I, or anyone else for that matter, could even decide who will be the Newsmaker of the Year.
Instead, 2015 will be the Year of Yorkton. Residents will continually surprise one another with their generosity. Business owners will continue to be as gracious as ever and should a tragedy occur within the city, you can bet your bottom dollar that our police, firefighters and EMS, as well as a plethora of volunteers, will be right there to help.
So who will be the 2015 Newsmaker of the Year?
Quite simply, the residents of this great city of Yorkton.
–Randy Brenzen
