Moose Jaw given paperweight ‘award’ for High Street project

While Moose Jaw is chasing one prestigious title, it’s getting a not-so-honourable one from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

CFIB handed out its paperweight awards as a part of its 10th annual Red Tape Awareness Week. The “awards” are meant to shine a light on the worst examples of red tape headaches for business owners across the country which include confusing regulations, rules and bad government/business customer service.

Moose Jaw was given the dishonourable mention due to the High Street West road repairs and water main project.

“The city’s water main replacement project on High Street West was supposed to take three weeks, but mismanagement dragged it on for almost 10 months,” said Jennifer Henshaw, CFIB’s senior policy analyst for the prairie region.

The road was voted the worst one in the province in 2018.

She added businesses were frustrated with a lack of communication from the city, noting some had no water for weeks without any notice or timeline from the city.

“To add insult to injury, one business owner had his water and sewer lines disconnected for almost four months and yet continued to receive water bills,” she said.

Don McKenzie, the owner of Water Vision Services, said as a small business owner, his business was “crippled” from the project.

“I hope they learn from this award and realize that their actions affect business owners, their livelihood and the community,” McKenzie said.

Henshaw said CFIB wrote a letter back in May 2018, to the city raising concerns businesses still had and offered recommendations on how they could mitigate the impact of those impacted by the construction.

There were nine paperweight awards handed out across the country. Some of the other winners include Health Canada and its lack of clarity on cannabis rules and the City of Toronto for its new licensing process, which can only be completed on paper at one location.

City of Moose Jaw looks to improve communication around infrastructure

In an emailed statement Moose Jaw Mayor Fraser Tolmie said he appreciates the issues faced by High Street businesses during the road and water main replacement and the city took over the project from the initial contractors as soon as possible.

“We ensured project completion while executing frequent, consistent communication to area property owners and residents regarding the construction timeline,” the statement read in part.

The city said that it is working on improving its construction and communication practices as it continues to address repairing and replacing other aging roads and infrastructure.