Congratulations to the community of Moosomin for organizing a successful and well attended Pro Energy Rally on Saturday, Feb. 16, at the recently opened IJACK Technologies assembly plant and office just north of town. Bill Thorn one of the 10 organizing committee members from the Moosomin Economic Development authority advised “ There is a silent majority that is not being heard while a number of special interest groups are getting the ears of our leaders. A couple members of our group had attended a rally in Regina organized by CANADAACTION.CA, a non-profit group, and we engaged with them to help us get this organized here.” Bill indicated that we need to and wanted to show the public that our oil and gas industry is a very important part of our economy and this resource needs to be handled very carefully. Our environmental practices are top notch and transporting this resource via pipelines is as prudent or more, than by rail or tankers in the east.
There was an impressisve list of delegates addressing the crowd including Conservative leader Andrew Sheer, Premier Scott Moe, Premier of New Brunswick, Blaine Higgs, Manitoba MLA Larry McGuire, Federal Senator Denise Batters, Leaders from SARM & SUMA, Larry Tomlinson, Mayor of Moosomin. An unplanned speaker was added to the address - Barry Lowes, Reeve of Ellis Archie RM near St. Lazarre reported that early Saturday morning he was called and advised that there had been a train derailment just outside of St. Lazarre with oil tankers that came off the tracks uphill of the Assiniboine River. He advised that all precautions were being taken to contain and remediate any spill that may be happening. An unfortunate coincidence for sure which highlights how much more prudent it is to transport the very valuable and needed resource by pipeline.
Steve Henry, VP of Sales of IJACK Technologies was on hand to comment that his company was pleased to host this event in their newly opened 20,000 sq. ft. facility where their patent oil pumping technology equipment is being assembled, quality tested and distributed. Steve commented “in terms of IJACK and other oil field supply and manufacturing companies, this industry is vital to the lifeblood of our local communities and all of Saskatchewan. It’s important that we send a message to our government to get the pipelines infrastructure going again so we can move forward to create opportunity not only for our own communities but nation wide.” Steve was happy with the turn out and estimated there must have been close to 1,000 which is great for a cold Saturday on a Holiday weekend.
Ray Boutin of Performance Realty in Carlyle and his brother Bernie attended the event in support of the effort. Ray advised that “I am compelled to attend these initiatives by our local communities in an effort to get our voice out there. My dad worked in this industry since the mid 50’s and my brothers did for numerous years as well. The lack of action we are getting from the federal government is not only disappointing it’s disrespectful to our communities that work hard and long hours to provide for their families and make our communities prosper. WE NEED TO BE HEARD and I’m pleased to see that Saskatchewanites are not sitting on their hands and taking this lying down. The rally in Estevan late last year was a testament to how much we need this resource managed properly and this rally in Moosomin and the convoy that is heading to Ottawa this weekend is encouraging to see, showing that people are standing up to the lack of attention and inaction from our federal government. I’ve got the Tee Shirt and I will be wearing it and talking about this any chance I get. I’m glad I came and applaud the efforts of people like Bill Thorn who are organizing to be heard.”
