“This been one of the toughest years for us, to Saskatchewan people, I would say this is one of the toughest years, the people of this province have ever experienced,” Moe said. He noted that, like virtually every other jurisdiction in the world, Saskatchewan had to shut down sizable portions of its economy to contain the spread of COVID-19. “It was one of the toughest decisions ever faced (by) government, and one of the toughest decisions I was involved with as premier. But it had to be done, at least temporarily, to protect us,” Moe said. It was necessary to protect the health care system and its workers.
Despite the uncertainty and widespread disruptions caused by COVID-19, Canora had another remarkable year in 2020 and town council is looking forward to more progress in 2021. It is not uncommon . . .
But while COVID-19 was something that caught a lot of people by surprise, the pandemic was something the city saw coming. As early as January, the events in China and elsewhere around the world where the still-unnamed novel coronavirus was wreaking havoc were noticed by city officials. Before the pandemic was even declared in March, the city was working on a pandemic plan and they had also struck a deal with Battleford for a joint administrative committee to deal with the pandemic response. A temporary pandemic policy, based on an existing document that was already in place at City Hall, was approved at council March 9 just days before the first COVID-19 case hit Saskatchewan. At the council meeting, city manager Randy Patrick and director of protective services Lindsay Holm cited the urgency of getting something in place right away; their concern that something big was about to happen proved prophetic.