Regina Pats trade scoring leader and captain Tanner Howe
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Tanner Howe was was the third youngest captain in the Regina Pats' history.
Evraz facilities in Regina and Red Deer will be getting $40 million in upgrades over the next three years from the federal government.
The money will be spent on improvements that will help the company be more competitive in making products for the oil and gas sector, the oil country tubular goods market, as it’s called.
A $40 million federal grant for Evraz will be used, in part, to make it more competitive in making products for the oil and gas sector. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)
It’s part of a larger $112 million investment the company is making at the two facilities.
In Regina, the money will go to two projects.
The first involves the electric arc furnace, which is used to melt scrap metal that will be recycled into steel. Electrical transformers and power distribution equipment will be replaced. Also, there will be a new substation.
“It enables us to reduce the cost-per-tonne of our steel while actually reducing the greenhouse gases here in Canada which is also critical to us,” said CEO Conrad Winkler.
“It also reduces the amount of steel we need to purchase from the USA, which right now has become quite expensive and we can make a lot of that steel right here in Canada instead of importing … to feed our Alberta mills with steel.”
The second is the reheat furnace, used to heat steel slabs to more than 1,200 C to produce coils and plates. It will receive new burner equipment, increasing production capacity and reducing nitrogen oxide emissions.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was at Wednesday morning’s funding announcement and said it would protect more than 2,100 jobs in Regina and Red Deer, and create 35 new ones.
They gave us earplugs. For good reason too. pic.twitter.com/51ivqdjMgU
— Joseph Ho (@_josephho) March 6, 2019
Worker safety
Winkler also addressed worker safety at the Regina plant, saying he was “deeply shaken” to hear two employees were badly hurt in February and another contractor was injured in this week.
“That safety performance is not acceptable. No pound of steel, no tonne of steel that leaves the facility is worth the safety of our employees,” he said.
The executive said he has directed local management to work with supervisors, workers and the union, “to identify the specific conditions and actions that need to be addressed as we continue to work towards our goal of zero injuries.”