WestCentral

PAYNTON, Sask. — It’s almost time to pucker up and celebrate the tangiest stalk in the garden as Paynton prepares to host the inaugural Saskatchewan Rhubarb Festival on June 21.

Organizers say community support has been overwhelming, with dozens of vendors, volunteers, and sponsors signing on to help launch the province’s first-ever festival dedicated to rhubarb.

Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald recently spent Friday and Saturday touring Saskatchewan.

During his visit, he had an opportunity to talk with producers and stakeholders about key agricultural issues and concerns and the potential opportunities that exist within the industry today and in the future.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney gets ready to host U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders at the G7 summit in Alberta, analysts say Canada's most important goal will be to keep the G7 from falling apart — even if that means not issuing a joint statement.

"Keeping this informal international organization together will, I think, be a mark of success," said Sen. Peter Boehm, a former diplomat who played a central role in Canada’s participation in the G7 for decades.

The historic ties and long-standing working relationship between the United Kingdom and Canada are not just reflections of the past, but are very much needed "in the here and now," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday. 

Starmer said the two Commonwealth members think and work alike, having collaborated for years on issues of security, defence, trade and the economy.

Starmer met with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa on Sunday before the two leaders headed for the G7 leaders' summit in Alberta.

Saskatchewan recorded the highest year-over-year growth in building permits among Canadian provinces, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

The province saw a 31.5 per cent increase in the value of building permits issued between April 2024 and April 2025, reaching a seasonally adjusted total of $290 million.

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — The owner of a southern Alberta drone business has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined nearly $800,000 for tax evasion and COVID-19 subsidy fraud.

Leslie Sand of Brooks, Alta., was sentenced June 10 in the Medicine Hat Law Courts after pleading guilty to fraud and tax evasion in connection with a scheme involving his company, Flyte Deck Corporation.

A longstanding tradition in Kindersley isn't getting flushed down the toilet anytime soon. 

The "travelling toilet" fundraiser that sees porcelain popped onto random lawns every spring returned for 2025 and managed to raise over $4000 for a special cause.

"The totals are in! $4163 will be donated to the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency from our 2025 fundraising efforts."

Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has dismissed both the conviction appeal and a sentence appeal application from a man found guilty of impersonating a police officer and criminal harassment.

In a decision released following a May 14 hearing, a three-judge panel upheld the 2024 jury conviction of Travis Patron, who confronted a woman and her young daughter outside a Saskatoon hotel, claiming he was a peace officer investigating a possible abduction.

Almost a decade after 24 Sussex Drive was abandoned as the official residence of the Canadian prime minister, taxpayers are still shelling out tens of thousands of dollars a year to maintain the vacant property, and the new prime minister has signalled he's in no rush to deal with the crumbling building.

Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in May that it's up to the National Capital Commission to decide what to do with 24 Sussex.

The Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) is encouraging residents to name a Trusted Contact Person (TCP) as part of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, recognized globally on June 15.

A TCP is someone a person authorizes their registered financial advisor to contact in specific situations, such as if there are concerns about financial exploitation or cognitive decline.