Moosomin leads growth in region

January 6, 2025, 9:07 am

Saskatchewan Health Covered Population numbers for 2024 show continued growth in southeast Saskatchewan, with the community of Moosomin leading the way in growth across the region.

The number of active Saskatchewan health cards in the Moosomin Region is 17,500 in 2024, up 701 or 4.17 per cent from the total of 16,799 in 2012, according to Saskatchewan Health.

Moosomin has showed the most growth in health card numbers over that period, growing from 2,961 to 3,324, an increase of 363 people or 12.25 per cent.
The other larger communities in the region all showed some growth as well, according to the Saskatchewan Health numbers.

Esterhazy grew by 80 or 2.65 per cent from 3,013 to 3,093 since 2012, Redvers grew by 34 or 2.51 per cent, from 1,354 to 1,388, and Kipling grew by 84 or 6.56 per cent, from 1,279 to 1,363.

Moosomin Mayor Murray Gray said he is not surprised to see the latest Covered Population numbers from Saskatchewan Health.

“Moosomin has been growing steadily and the projections are that we’re going to continue to grow steadily,” he said. “With what we have for infrastructure we can grow at this pace and handle it. It’s great to see. It’s what we’re working toward with economic development.

“The job market is good here, and that attracts people, and that attracts the growth. For us to have a campaign on now to add housing units to complement the jobs, we’re in a good spot.”

He said Moosomin has put a focus on growth for the last few years.

“Forming the economic development joint funding agreement, working together, the collaboration with the RM and the CBA, I think is unique and creating a lot of successes. And I think when you can add services, businesses and jobs, you can add population. And I think paying attention to that has certainly paid off, and I think that has probably been the biggest difference if you look at us in comparison to some other communities.

“I think we continue to do what we are doing and working together and I think the sky is the limit. I think we are doing things the way you need to do them if you want to grow, and if we continue on that path there’s no reason we won’t continue to grow at the pace we are.”

Gray says that growth creates some challenges for the town, but those challenges are not insurmountable.

“Housing is one,” he says. “You definitely have pressure on your rec facilities, on your hospital, and on things you don’t even think of like not enough post office boxes in your post office.

“So the growth creates some challenges, but we can adapt and add what we need to add.”

He says he’s not surprised by the area’s growth.

“I’m not surprised that it’s continuing to grow. I’m always surprised at the gap in this number in comparison to what they count in the census and I don’t understand why that gap is there. But no I’m not surprised by it. It’s good to see when you are working hard on trying to grow your community. If that number was going down I think it would be disappointing, but I’m certainly not shocked to see that we have an increase in population again which is good to see.”

Gray points out that thanks to the federal housing accelerator fund, Moosomin has more housing units in production right now.

“There are 33 housing units that are going to come online in the next six months, so we are getting close on adding those first initial doors under that program,” he says.

“I think that will help with people who want to move to town. I think it’s going to take a little bit of heat off of how tough it is to find a place to live. I’m sure there are people who have looked at moving here and got a job at the potash mine or IJACK or got a job in one of the industries in the area that didn’t move here because they couldn’t find somewhere to live. So I think that’s going to help with that for sure.”

He says he would not be surprised to see more growth or higher growth in the years ahead.

“It actually might see even a larger bump than we’ve had,” he says. “If you look at adding 22 people a year, that’s certainly sustainable and maybe we can even add 30 or 40 next year.

“It’s good news. I like to have good news. Good news is a lot more fun to deal with than bad news.”

Saskatchewan’s population has topped 1,246,000 for the first time according to the latest quarterly population estimates released by Statistics Canada.

See the Saskatchewan Health covered population numbers on page 6 this week's newspaper.