Saskatchewan has come out on top once again with the recently released unemployment rate figures.

June marked the 21st consecutive month that Saskatchewan has had the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Employment reached an all time record of 589,100, which is an increase of 7500 over last year. According to Statistics Canada, the province's unemployment rate was sitting at 4.7 per cent for the month of June, down from 4.9 per cent in May.

Minister of Immigration, Jobs, Skills and Training, Jeremy Harrison says one of the initiatives that helps maintain the lowest rate is the government's investment in training for in-demand jobs.

"We've made some very, very significant investments into Adult Basic Education to ensure that young people have the tools to enter the labour market and become attached to that labour market and be successful. We've made significant investment into skills training, into apprenticeship training, and we've increased the number of seats for apprenticeship by nearly 70 per cent over the last eight years," he said. "We've made incredible investments into these areas so that our young people have the opportunity to obtain the training that they need to obtain very real and very meaningful jobs that become careers in our economy."

The NDP recently released a Caucus News Alert stating, "Over the last year, Saskatchewan has added 6,600 part-time jobs and only 900 full-time jobs, an indication that the government is failing to diversify and stabilize the economy."

But Harrison says full-time employment reached a record high for the province at 488,600 for the month of June, which is up 900 from a year ago.

"I actually find it quite interesting; the NDP put out a press release acknowledging the fact that we are continuing to create record numbers of jobs in the province, but have to find some sort of black cloud in all of that, but what I would point to is during the record of the NDP," he said. "When they were in government, I think we all know what the reality was, which was that young people were leaving Saskatchewan to find employment elsewhere that we were not creating jobs, but we were losing jobs to other parts of the country on a very consistent basis, so the fact that we've created 7500 and the NDP can only criticize that, I find a bit disappointing but it's not surprising given that their record in government was so dismal in regard to job creation."

Saskatchewan has a rate of growth of 1.3 per cent, the third highest percentage increase in the entire country year-over-year.

Golden West Business Commentator Paul Martin

The word recession has been thrown around a lot lately in Canada. The country just completed a second consecutive quarter with negative growth.

Golden West Financial Expert Paul Martin says calling this a recession would be overstating the issue.

"The numbers suggest that we are skating on the edge of a recession both nationally and provincially. There maybe a difference between the two. The economists at TD Bank had just issued a report saying that Saskatchewan will have growth this year of two tenths of one percent, so that's positive. The official definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth, but if we do have a recession, it'll be quite modest."

Martin says the economic climates in other provinces are hurting the economy.

"Clearly Alberta is hurting. Alberta has real challenges simply because their reliance on the oil patch, and we all know the story on oil and how the price has dropped. Here in Saskatchewan, we're not feeling it as bad because we're more diversified. Newfoundland is also in a negative position, because they're so reliant on oil. So what's pulling down the country is Alberta and Newfoundland."

Martin says that there isn't much to worry about if Canada does fall into a recession.

"Here's the reality, it takes 180 days, 2 consecutive quarters to create the official term of recession. That means that if Canada or Saskatchewan, for example, were in a recession, for the first two quarters of this year, that means that the recession started last December or January. We should think about what we did for the last 180 days, because if we were in a recession and that's the way we conducted ourselves, as if there wasn't one, and all still made it out the other end."

Martin says that Saskatchewan has had some significant growth over the last decade and if we do face some red numbers that it would be pretty modest.

{Photo Credit: Premier Brad Wall} Premier Brad Wall visited the evacuation centres in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert about two weeks ago

While rain brings hope, provincial firefighters, volunteers, and military personnel are continuing to battle the blaze in northern Saskatchewan.

As of Tuesday, there are 125 fires still burning in the province, and the one to three millimeters of rain that La Ronge and Montreal Lake received yesterday have done little to help.

Premier Brad Wall visited some of the evacuation centers in Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Regina about two weeks ago, and he says it's hard to say when things will turn around.

"They want to go home, and who could blame them, but we've got to make sure that that happens when and only when it is safe to do so. We have a very rigorous checklist that we begin to work on with community leaders, and we've managed to go through a few of those checklists in communities and have all of the boxes marked, and so there are some folks going home to their communities. Other than those with sensitive health issues, Pinehouse is one of those communities," he said.

Of the 1500 fire personnel currently fighting to control the blaze, 550 are members of the armed forces and 116 are out-of-province wildlife personnel, as part of a contingency plan. Within 48 hours after Premier Wall put in a call to Prime Minister Harper, troops were on the ground with more than 600 involved in firefighting alone.

"The ones that we're fighting are the ones that would threaten communities, infrastructure, or property that we're working hard to protect on behalf of the people and it's hard to predict but I just think the rain is particularly helpful," said Wall. "It hasn't really been falling much, although it's been raining most of the day - I've been in contact with the Mayor of La Ronge, but in that particular area they have not received the rain they have in other places. Between moisture, cooler temperatures, and additional resources, I think people should know that things are still very serious, but stable and in parts improving," Wall said.

{Photo Credit: Government of Saskatchewan} Battling the blaze up north - photo posted six days ago

The unprecedented fires are burning up more than thirty times the typical fire season, and have caused the provincial government to exceed the budget allotted for events such as wild fires and flooding, as Wall explains.

"This is not the first time it's happened simply because you don't budget for the historical events that we're seeing. This is the largest fire not just in terms of acreage, but also in terms of fires threatening communities and so that means we have to fight them earnestly to protect people and property, and so that's meant the budget has been fully utilized. This happened last year with major flood events, but here's the good news: last year, even after a lot of money spent to deal with the flooding, we managed to balance the budget and we're going to work hard to do the same thing, even though we're through the fire suppression budget right now," he said.

This morning, the Red Cross and Social Services will be moving evacuees at the Regina Evraz Place evacuation centre to Saskatoon. The province is closing the Regina centre because of declining evacuee numbers, and about 200 evacuees will be cared for at the Saskatoon evacuation centres until the evacuation orders are lifted.

Meanwhile, provincial officials are warning evacuees to ignore rumours, noting that word about an evacuation order being lifted for Montreal Lake is incorrect.

There are currently 10,398 evacuees receiving social services due to the fires.

Author Deryn Collier will be in attendance for this year's Festival of Words

The Festival of Words will kick off Thursday in Moose Jaw. The festival brings many different writers of different genres together to showcase the talent of writers from across Canada.

Deryn Collier will be one of the authors at the festival, and she explains why she became a writer.

"I read a Nancy Drew book, I put the book down and said 'that's what I want' I wanted to provide that experience of floating away with a book. I wanted to provide that experience of mystery with the reader."

The four day festival gives readers the chance to see, hear and ask questions to their favorite authors, and Collier says that she loves to gain opinions from other writers.

"I'm always willing to ask authors questions (on the panels). I love the opportunity to connect with other authors and I do with some of them with questions because I want to know what everyone else is up to."

She says she'll be at many different events during the festival.

"I've got 5 different events, the first one is Thursday night at the Readception, I haven't been to that before, but I hear there are plenty of readings. I'm looking forward to tantalizing the audience with that event so that they'll want to come to the rest of them."

The 19th annual Festival of Words runs from July 16th to the 19th.

Moose Jaw Union Hospital

Doctors in the province have reached a tentative deal with the provincial government that could see a new four year, retroactive contract signed in the very near future.

Details of the deal have not been released but the Saskatchewan Medical Association calls it competitive with neighbouring provinces. The deal would cover 2013 through March of 2017.

The SMA is advising their members to accept the agreement through a vote later this month, at that time, details will be released publicly.

Two people are dead after a terrible crash just east of Regina Wednesday evening.

RCMP were called to the area near the Pilot Butte turnoff on the Trans-Canada Highway around 5:30, where two vehicles collided.  Two people were killed while a third was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.

The area was closed for over five hours as RCMP investigated and the wreckage was removed.

The Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation has announced a partnership with the Prince's Charities Canada to conserve the Claybank Brick Plant.

Kyle Franz Manager of Sask Heritage Foundation explains how Claybank was chosen.

"When the Prince of Whales was here last year, he told his Canadian Chair of Operations that he wanted to bring the regeneration model over from the United Kingdom. They had a look for projects that could be suitable and they took a visit out to Claybank to see what the site was like and it had a lot of things that were of interest to them."

There will be a chance for Moose Jaw residents to voice there opinion on the future of Claybank on July 28th at the Mae Wilson Theatre.

The town of Craik could expand if Gensource builds their potash mine nearby

69 interested people attended a town hall meeting in Craik Wednesday night.

They were there to hear representatives from Saskatoon's Gensource Potash speak about the potential for a potash mine to be constructed in the Craik area.

It's been a few months since initial plans were announced, but there's still a long way to go before any ground is broken.

"We can't tell anybody in Craik where it's going to land....when it's going to start," explained Gensource project coordinator Ted Warren. "We're working with a Brazilian group to be our market, and we're going to be producing 250-thousand tonnes of material (per year)...once that contract is signed we can move forward...it'll take us about 17-19 months to get from shovel in the ground to (having) potash in a container."

Once Gensource has those details finalized, then they'll go about purchasing mining rights from affected landowners.

"We buy the land..they can still farm it," said Warren.  "They have the royalty they'll get from (the potash) below the ground if they own the lease (to the land), and they can take the crop off..they can gain a couple of ways".

Gensource has said the mine will be about 1/10th the size of a typical mine, such as K+S Potash Canada's Legacy Site near Bethune. Warren says their process will be different also.

"They're (K+S) using water for solution mining, and we're going to be using a brackish brine from the Blairmore (underground formation of wet, sandy, layer of earth). We're not using surface water, and we will not have brine storage ponds on site, which is quite different and quite environmentally-friendly."

As for job creation resulting from the new mine?

"Potentially 50 full-time operating jobs once the (mine) is built and operating," suggested Warren. "During construction, somewhere between 200-300 people (will be hired).  It's exciting for the community and it's exciting for Gensource."

STARS CEO Andrea Robertson (R) speaks inside the Pilot Butte Show home, one of the STARS lottery grand prizes

For the first time in its four-year history, the STARS Lottery in Saskatchewan has sold out.

The annual lotto supports the STARS Air Ambulance bases in Regina and Saskatoon.

“Approximately 50 per cent of the funding for our two bases in Saskatchewan comes from local supporters. Each and every person who buys a STARS Lottery ticket is helping contribute to the safety of the community,” said Andrea Robertson, president and CEO of STARS.

“This is major milestone for us and we are absolutely thrilled. We have so much gratitude for the support the people of this province have shown STARS through their response to our lottery,” she said.

STARS operates at a cost of about $10-million per year.

The grand prizes in the lottery are show homes in Pilot Butte in Saskatoon, with vacations, vehicles and thousands more up for grabs in secondary prizes.

Plus, there will be a 50/50 draw with the winner's share coming out to $783,720.00.

Draws for all prizes will begin August 10 and end August 12, when the top 10 prize winners will be announced and later posted on the lottery website www.starslotterysaskatchewan.com.

It would appear more storms are on the way for southern Saskatchewan as we get set for the weekend.

Moose Jaw was missed again by the storm Thursday night, only seeing strong winds that hit 60km per hour.  Some areas to the east saw heavy rain and large hail as the front moved through. We did get a touch of rain during a noon hour downpour but nothing major.

Environment Canada is forecasting more storms for the bottom half of the province this weekend. Sunshine and heat will return on Sunday.

Dale Garthus and Bruce Willms of RBC Dominion Securities, Justine Fargo and Mackenzie Johnson of Wakamow Valley

RBC Dominion Securities is trying to help Wakamow Valley replace the playground structure at the Kinsmen Wellesley Pavilion, by donating $2000 towards their fundraising.

The structure was burned beyond repair in early June and Wakamow estimates the replacement cost between $50,000 and $75,000.

Wakamow CEO Margaret Moran says some have asked her why the damage wasn't covered by insurance.

"All our structures are insured for liability concerns but it wasn't insured because it was really worthless." explained Moran who noted that the old structure wasn't CSA safety approved. "It had depreciated to the point that it was virtually worth nothing... that's why it wasn't insured for replacement, because we couldn't replace what we had."

An additional $2000 was raised for the structure at last week's Wakamow Kids Day.

Budding writers helped kick off the Saskatchewan Festival Of Words Wednesday in Moose Jaw.  

The popular "Kids Ink" program Thursday morning allowed kids between the ages of 6 and 13 to learn how to write and draw "funny" with instructor Kevin Sylvester.

"What I wanted to do was give the idea that writing is simple, in a way. You're only answering one question, which is 'what happens next?' over and over and over." said Sylvester. "In drawing, the biggest thing that everybody has to do... is loosen up your hand. Be way looser in the way you're drawing, draw the shapes first and then as you build up the detail, you turn it into the picture that you want to do."

Festival of Words continues today through Sunday with readings, Q and A sessions with authors, as well as music and movies.

Musical Ride last night in Coronach

Last night, the town of Coronach was treated to a performance courtesy of the RCMP's musical ride.

Mark Gee was in the crowd, and says he enjoyed the show and would love to come back.

"I will (come back). It's a very entertaining show, and it's nice to see all the horses and people here."

The show has traveled across Canada so far this summer, and RCMP member Steve Sonier says they're very busy this summer.

"Roughly 120 shows throughout the country."

Sonier says he enjoys doing the shows on the road.

"Every place is special. It's fun to go to these small communities to see what they're all about."

The Musical Ride will be coming into Moose Jaw for a pair of performances over the weekend at the Exibition Grounds.

{gallery}galleries/CoronachMusicalRide{/gallery}

The Festival of words continues in the Friendly City.

The four day festival brings together some of Canada's best writers and authors for readings, panel discussions and question periods.

One of the authors at this year's festival, Guy Vanderhaeghe explains where his passion for writing came from.

"Sitting around the kitchen table and listening to my family, and family friends tell stories." Vanderhaeghe says, "I would have to say i had a number of relatives who were very good story tellers, and their stories entranced me."

Vanderhaeghe says he'll be partaking in a few different events at the festival.

"I have one presentation where I'll be reading from my short stories, then I have a collective reading with a fine short story writer, Audrey Thomas, where I'll also do readings from my work, and then I'll be doing a talk at the invitation of the organizer of the festival, where I'll talk about my history as a witter and how I became one."

Vanderhaeghe added that he's excited about coming to Moose Jaw.

"I've been to the festival in Moose Jaw before, and it's a very beautiful city. I enjoy going there."

Vanderhaeghe will be the Saturday feature author for an hour at the Mae Wilson Theater starting at 4 PM.

The 19th annual Saskatchewan Festival of Words runs until Sunday.

Dr. Mark Vooght

The dry start to the summer has been very beneficial when it comes to mosquitoes around the province but local officials, like Five Hills Medical Health Office, Dr Mark Vooght, are still keeping an eye out for any signs of West Nile Virus.

"The number of mosquitoes have dropped off significantly. The most amount of mosquitoes are the Culex Tarsalis, and they're the ones that carry the West Nile Virus."

He adds that there is a silver lining to that fact as well.

"The good news is that right now, there are no positive mosquito pools have been detected."

Vooght notes that the last two weeks of July, and first two weeks of August are the most common time for positive mosquitoes to be found.

"We need to take precautions from being bitten by mosquitoes, Culex Tarsalis' act mainly at night, once the sun has gone down."

Dr. Vooght hopes that everyone will ramp up their precautions to avoid being bitten.

Members of the Saskatchewan Dragoons before leaving July 10th

It's a time to celebrate but that celebration will be short lived for people of Northern Saskatchewan.

Thanks to rain and the efforts of firefighters, the majority of those evacuated because of forest fires are now being allowed to go home.

The Mayor of La Ronge has announced that the evacuation notice has been lifted for the largest area impacted by the fires.

Officials with the province are saying most of the wildfires are now under control, allowing the majority of the 13,000 evacuees to go home this weekend.

 Close to an inch of rain fell in Moose Jaw Friday.  The showers started innocently around 2pm, and the storm hit its most severe point between 3:30-4 when high wind and rain pelted the city and surrounding area.  Once the wind died down, the rain continued through the evening, leaving 23mm in the rain gauge at our Golden West studios. 

Friday's downpour double our total rainfall in July.  There's a chance of more rain today before we return to sunny, normal temperatures for this time of year.

The Moose Jaw Fire Department announced changes Friday that see all fire calls to 911 that originate in Moose Jaw answered in Prince Albert and dispatched from the province-wide 911 dispatch centre located in the northern Saskatchewan city.

Regina and Saskatoon are now the only centres in the province that won't use PA911, the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for 911 calls.

"Nothing changes (for) the general public," explained Moose Jaw Fire Chief Rod Montgomery, who says we'll still "call 911 for an emergency.  The only difference now is instead of having to wait for that (911) call to be transferred to the Moose Jaw Fire Department, they'll be able to automatically dispatch the (fire) trucks from there (PSAP), so there'll be a bit of time saving."

Montgomery added that the PSAP offers technology that enhances safety. "In the (PSAP) they have the ability to (receive) texts to 911, improved services for the hearing impaired and disabled."

In addition, PSAP offers computer-aided dispatch that will provide firefighters with GPS routes, updated road closures, and other pertinent information when they respond to calls.

The changes do mean job losses for those working as Fire Department dispatchers in Moose Jaw, though one new person will be hired in an administrative position at the North Hill Fire Hall.

"This person will be charged with not only assisting with administration, but also answering inquiries from the public," said Chief Montgomery.

The RCMP Musical Ride calls Moose Jaw home this weekend.

The Musical Ride is comprised of 32 RCMP members who perform equestrian drills set to music.  Many of the riders did not have previous riding experience before joining the troupe.

"We are roughly 50/50 male and female (riders) in the show," says Constable Tracy Aube, who rides her horse Aurora during the show. "I have great pride being able to represent Canada and the RCMP.  I always wanted to be part of the Musical Ride. It's something I never thought would happen so sometimes I shake my head (because) I can't believe this is really happening.  It's a great privelege for us."

The Musical Ride stopped in Coronach Thursday night, and will continue on to Watrous July 22 after the Moose Jaw performances Saturday and Sunday.

"It's a great privilege for us to go these smaller communities in Canada," says Aube. "(We) meet the public in a positive way, interact with them and see their happy, smiling faces. It's a wonderful feeling, I can't describe how thrilling it is and how proud I feel to be up there."

The performances in Moose Jaw will take place in the Gommersall Arena on the north end of the Moose Jaw Exhibition Grounds Saturday night at 7, and Sunday afternoon at 3pm.  The gates will open one hour prior to showtime.

Admission prices are $20 for a family of five, or $8 per adult and $5 for seniors and students.

Sarah Simison was all smiles Friday.

She is the Operations Coordinator for the 19th annual Saskatchewan Festival of Words, meaning she's one of busiest people in Moose Jaw this weekend.

However, she is very pleased with the early returns of this year's event.

"The authors have already been raving about what a great time they're having, how well looked after they are, and how full their sessions have been," Simison told us. "They were surprised to come and work on a Friday morning and have a full crowd."

Festival events are scattered across Moose Jaw, with the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery and Mae Wilson theatre the main hubs for speakers and writing sessions.

Simison says crowds are as strong as ever for the literary event.

"It's about four thousand people sitting in seats for the entire festival..some of those people are pass-holders for multiple events, but over the entire festival, about four thousand (will attend)."

That's a healthy crowd, but there's room for you and your friends to check out the remaining events.

"The nice thing is we have some things happening at some pretty big venues like the Mae Wilson theatre, where it's four hundred-plus capacity, so there are tickets still available.  Give us a call or come to the (Moose Jaw Public) Library and we can get you set up," Simison said.