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Jeremy Harrison, MLA for Meadow Lake, addresses the crowd during the official opening of the Meadow Lake Co-op Centre on June 24, 2025. (file photo/meadowlakeNOW staff)
INFRASTRUCTURE

Catching up with Jeremy Harrison: What’s next for power, internet in northwest Sask.

Aug 1, 2025 | 2:10 PM

Meadow Lake MLA Jeremy Harrison, who is also the minister responsible for SaskTel, SaskPower and SaskEnergy, says work is underway to make power more reliable and Internet access faster for people living in Northwest.

In an interview with meadowlakeNOW, Harrison confirmed SaskPower will carry out a second planned outage in Meadow Lake and the surrounding northwest region on Aug. 27 from midnight to 4 a.m., following the first outage on July 9.

“We usually try to do these where it’s at minimal demand time,” he said.

The outage is part of a two‑phase program to strengthen the power grid. Crews have already installed a new capacitor bank at the Meadow Lake switching station and will add a second transformer during the August outage.

“What 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,” Harrison said.

He said SaskPower is spending more than $60 million this year on grid improvements in the region, including pole replacements and other line upgrades.

Harrison also pointed to a broadband project that will bring fibre Internet to 35 northern communities over the next year and a half, costing more than $100 million.

The $100 million investment was announced by the federal government several weeks ago.

“I want to thank the Government of Canada for their partnership in it.”

Harrison added, “It’s a very significant undertaking … but we are committed to doing that and we’ll be working on that project over the next year and a half to deliver broadband to those communities in that period of time.”

Harrison added SaskTel’s public ownership makes it possible to extend fibre to small, remote places where private companies would not invest.

“With SaskTel, because it is owned by the public of this province, we are able to make those investments on a public policy basis,” he said. “We’re doing it because we believe that this makes sense for the people of that community.”

The province’s goal is to run fibre to nearly 98 per cent of residents by March 2027.

“We’re 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,” Harrison said.

He also praised SaskPower and SaskTel employees for keeping services running during this year’s wildfire season.

“For example … from the wildfire a month or a month and a half ago [in La Ronge] that threatened the community. It was really very, very close to having a very negative ending,” he said.

“And 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’s 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.”

Harrison said more Crown corporation announcements are on the way.

“There’s going to be a lot of good news I think that is going to be coming,” he said. “I just again want to commend our hardworking employees … and encourage the public to let us know what we can do better.”

Harrison, who has been the MLA for Meadow Lake since 2007, called the projects part of why he serves in public office.

“It’s really a great honour. I’m incredibly blessed to have been able to be in a position to make some of these decisions on behalf of the public,” he said. “This is what you do it for … making decisions that are going to have a positive benefit for your constituents and for your communities.”

He said he remains grateful for the trust Meadow Lake voters have placed in him.

“This is why we’re doing these things … It’s 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.”

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com