A 24-hour visit to Helena by lawmakers from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan wrapped up Wednesday afternoon with legislators and other officials from each country praising the dialog and pledging to work together on issues of concern on each side of the border.

The visit included "job shadowing" in the Legislature by members of Legislative Assembly from the province, as well as breakout meetings focused on energy issues, transportation and public health. Several Montana officials made a comparable trip to Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, last year.

"The idea is to create a dialogue amongst government officials as we have some discussions about cross-border issues," said Mark Bisom of the Commerce Department. Montana lawmakers have had similar exchanges with Alberta, and a trip to British Columbia is penciled in for later this spring.

"It's a different system, but the issues that confront us are so similar," said Harry Van Mulligen, Saskatchewan's Minister of Government Relations. "We shouldn't let the different systems get in the way of working together. The more you know the people you're working with, the better the friendships and the better you're able to communicate."

Trevor Dark of the province's Ministry of Industry and Resources noted that the province and state are following a number of same paths toward energy development, including coal, wind and biofuel in addition to fossil fuels like oil and natural gas.

And Kim Greybiel of the Ministry of Highways and Transportation said that producers on each side of the border face similar challenges in getting their goods to market, especially by rail.

"Our small shippers can not get readily available access to customers at a reasonable price," he said. By working together, he suggested, producers in Saskatchewan and Montana might combine for the critical mass of demand needed to secure more favorable rates from railways.

One member of the Saskatchewan delegation, Rick Trimp, executive director of the province's Public Health Branch, grew up in Helena before moving to Canada 14 years ago. He said that in the instance of a pandemic, a bi-national plan is critical, since disease doesn't stop at the border.

"It's an ideal opportunity for us to have a comprehensive policy on both sides of the border, and to do it unilaterally is a disservice," he said.

Further opening the border was another theme of the meeting. Wayne Ehland, a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Cypress Hills, said he would push for 24-hour crossing access at the port of Climax (Saskatchewan) and Turner, north of Harlem. The Regway/Raymond crossing in the far northeast corner of Montana is currently the only one of seven crossings into Saskatchewan that's open around the clock.

Saskatchewan is the easternmost of three Canadian provinces to border Montana, with a shared border that begins practically due north of Havre. The province is home to just less than a million people, similar in size to Montana, and ranks (a distant) second to neighboring Alberta in oil production.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.