'It represents our commitment to the area': Moosomin airport to receive $4.1M upgrade

Moosomin is a community of just under 2,500, but it’s growing — and its newest future addition promises to help the community grow even more.

New upgrades have begun at the local Moosomin airport. With additional government and provincial funding, the project promises to bring economic spin-offs, and help with southeast medical issues.

Currently, the runway at Moosomin’s airport can’t support air ambulance crews. The new build will look to bridge that gap and allow for more movement to and from the community.

On Feb. 8, Nutrien earmarked $2.7 million to the new build. The province added an additional $1.4 million, bringing the total investment into the project to $4.1 million.

Numerous local donors also committed funds, with the project going through 17 different RMs and local communities to get to this point.

“What it’ll do in terms of timely medical assistance around the area is just unbelievable,” Jeff St. Onge, president of the Moosomin Flying Club, told CTV News.

Work has begun already, with half of the existing gravel runway now torn up.

St. Onge said the new build will include a new hangar, along with a new paved runway and will repurpose some existing areas.

For Nutrien, one quarter of its potash revenues comes from southeastern Saskatchewan.

According to Chris Reynolds, Nutrien’s president and executive vice president of potash, this is an investment rather than a one-off donation.

“This is an area that really important to Nutrien,” Reynolds said. “We’re really excited here and I think it represents our commitment to the area.”

Reynolds’s added that just 30 minutes away from Moosomin lies the largest potash facility in the world.

He said a big factor in approving the deal was the existing work the community has done with the project, showing it’s serious to create change for the southeast.

According to Reeve of the RM of Moosomin, David Moffatt, an additional $1.2 million is needed to finish the project.

“We have people ready to donate, and a lot of big industry too that are looking at doing this,” he said.

“With this facility here, I think we’re going to see bigger businesses coming to town … to make that transition of driving all day to a three hour trip [by plane] is huge.”