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ESTEVAN – If you want to find out what’s ailing Saskatchewan’s economy these days, you’ve come to the right place.

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The mayor of Cold Lake can’t understand why so many Canadian politicians are unmoved by the devastation of Alberta oil towns like his.





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Just as Estevan was at the heart of Saskatchewan’s economic boom, the self-styled Energy Capital of Saskatchewan is now the epicentre of the province’s economic slowdown.

Once the province’s poster boy for economic growth, Estevan is now the canary in the coalmine, the first city to feel the full impact of the plunging price of oil. Nowhere in Saskatchewan has the slowdown in the economy — the transition from boom to bust — been more pronounced or rapid.

Mayor Roy Ludwig, who served on council for 22 years and the last four years as mayor, says almost overnight the prevailing attitude has changed from buoyant optimism to hunkered down “survival mode.”