SASKATOON – The National Transportation Agency is closing its only office on the prairies.
The agency’s Saskatoon office, which was set up in 1979 in large part to deal with branch line abandonment and other rail issues, will close its doors for good on Sept. 30.
“A lot of us are very sad about it,” said regional director Brian Gill, noting that several employees have worked there since the office was opened in 1979.
There are eight employees in Saskatoon, down from more than 30 during the office’s heyday in the mid-1980s. The public service commission will try to relocate them with other government agencies.
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Gill said the closure is part of a general rationalization of services going on within the NTA. A recent internal review suggested ending the Saskatoon office’s air licensing function, which meant losing three employees. A separate review said the office’s two rail positions should be cut. That would have left just three employees.
“Western transportation interests will still be well served, but they’ll be served out of Ottawa,” Gill said, adding the agency decided it’s cheaper to have people fly west to deal with regional issues than to keep the office open at an annual cost of around $600,000.
The NTA is also closing its office in Moncton, N.B., putting more than 40 employees out of work. Gill said that is directly attributable to spending cuts in the Feb. 27 budget, while the Saskatoon office is a combination of spending cuts and restructuring.
Gill said it’s ironic the Saskatoon office is being closed at a time when branch line abandonment is again becoming a high profile issue, although he added it remains to be seen whether the NTA will be much involved in the abandonment process.
