{"id":39060,"date":"2025-08-02T03:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T03:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/39060\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T03:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T03:36:07","slug":"catching-up-with-jeremy-harrison-whats-next-for-power-internet-in-northwest-sask-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/39060\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching up with Jeremy Harrison: What\u2019s next for power, internet in northwest Sask."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat I tasked SaskPower with when I became minister was how can we strengthen that grid and increase the reliability of our power supply in the northwest,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

He said SaskPower is spending more than $60\u202fmillion this year on grid improvements in the region, including pole replacements and other line upgrades.<\/p>\n

Harrison also pointed to a broadband project that will bring fibre Internet <\/a>to 35 northern communities over the next year and a half, costing more than $100\u202fmillion. <\/p>\n

The $100 million investment was announced by the federal government several weeks <\/a>ago. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very significant undertaking \u2026 but we are committed to doing that and we\u2019ll be working on that project over the next year and a half to deliver broadband to those communities in that period of time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Harrison added SaskTel\u2019s public ownership makes it possible to extend fibre to small, remote places where private companies would not invest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith SaskTel, because it is owned by the public of this province, we are able to make those investments on a public policy basis,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing it because we believe that this makes sense for the people of that community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The province\u2019s goal is to run fibre to nearly 98\u202fper\u202fcent of residents by March\u202f2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re running fibre to a community like Goodsoil where there never would have been fibre run to if that was in Alberta, British Columbia or Ontario,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n

He also praised SaskPower and SaskTel employees for keeping services running during this year\u2019s wildfire season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example \u2026 from the wildfire a month or a month and a half ago [in La Ronge]<\/a> that threatened the community. It was really very, very close to having a very negative ending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd a big part of the reason why we were able to save the community, our firefighters, on the ground, on the front line, were able to do so, it\u2019s because the power was kept on and that was the result of really heroic work by SaskPower crews from La Ronge, from Prince Albert, from Meadow Lake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison said more Crown corporation announcements are on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of good news I think that is going to be coming,\u201d he said. \u201cI just again want to commend our hardworking employees \u2026 and encourage the public to let us know what we can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison, who has been the MLA for Meadow Lake since 2007, called the projects part of why he serves in public office.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a great honour. I\u2019m incredibly blessed to have been able to be in a position to make some of these decisions on behalf of the public,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is what you do it for \u2026 making decisions that are going to have a positive benefit for your constituents and for your communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he remains grateful for the trust Meadow Lake voters have placed in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we\u2019re doing these things \u2026 It\u2019s going to create jobs and opportunities for young people in the northwest to stay here, make their life here, and raise their family here. The best place in the world to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat I tasked SaskPower with when I became minister was how can we strengthen that grid and increase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[64,63,237,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-39060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-internet","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}