The special meeting in La Ronge Friday attracted residents mostly opposed to the move. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

special meeting

‘Lesser of two evils’: La Ronge council votes to bid up to $1.25 million for SLGA permit

Feb 17, 2023 | 6:36 PM

In spite of efforts from local residents to stop La Ronge council from pursuing the purchase of the SLGA liquor license, all members in attendance voted to proceed.

In specific, town council with the exception of Coun. Matthew Klassen who was not present, voted at a special meeting Friday to accept a recommendation from administration to approve the addition of $2.5 million to the 2023 capital budget, funded from town reserves, for the purposes of acquiring a liquor permit and assets for the operation of a retail liquor store in the municipality.

That means administration has been authorized to spend up to $1.25 million in town funds in the La Ronge liquor permit auction closing Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. Also, if approached by a public or private organization regarding a potential partnership pertaining to the retail liquor store initiative, administration will present the details of such a partnership proposal to council.

“For me, this is a very difficult decision because I have seen the harm alcohol causes, especially in youth. I have also seen a lot of misuse and abuse of alcohol in the community, and it is troubling,” deputy-mayor Viviana Ruiz-Arcand said.

“Do we want to see a profit go potentially to a private entity or do we want those potential profits, which we will have say over, go to a community for the betterment of the community for some much needed infrastructure. That’s my stance. I don’t fully agree with it, but I agree with it in the sense we are the less, if we are moving forward with it, we will be the lesser of two evils.”

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Coun. Ryan Veteri agreed with Ruiz-Arcand and stated it will be a community decision on how profits from the liquor store would be spent.

The SLGA liquor store in La Ronge is expected to close in March. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

“We could host a town meeting and have a discussion on what we see as priorities in our community,” he said. “Somebody is going to get it and, if we can keep those money in the community, the people who will benefit is everyone no matter what their social status is.”

Coun. Jordan McPhail told attendees municipal costs are rising every year and budgets have been squeezed immensely.

“Today, we are asked if we would like to try our hand in becoming a municipality that involves itself with a potential business to build the coffers up and reinvest profits from the liquor store in the many capital and organizational challenges that we face,” he said.

“It is a risk, yes. Everything we do at this table is a risk. I believe that there is a greater risk in letting this opportunity pass us by without at least trying to offset the cost of municipal projects ahead and instead trying to solely rely on grants and our moderate tax base to fund these projects in their entirety.”

Since council made its intentions public to pursue the permit on Wednesday, the La Ronge and District Chamber of Commerce announced its highly opposed to the plan. In addition, several people against it attended the special meeting Friday including Suzanne and Graham Guest.

The couple provided a statement to larongeNOW, which noted the purchase would not be in the best interest of residents in La Ronge or the surrounding area.

“Shame on you. We expected more. We don’t need to be pressured into making a hasty decision,” they wrote.

“You state our infrastructure is in dire need of repair and that we need this money to pull us out. That is poor management and leadership. While the provincial government is withdrawing from the sale of alcoholic products, which cost other provincial departments millions of dollars trying to deal with their harmful effects, why would a municipality think of getting into it?”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno