REGINA – A number of key issues were on the mind of Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities President Bill Huber at their annual convention in Regina.
Infrastructure, amalgamation, and the federal gun buyback program were among the items that have come up from delegates to the annual convention being held at REAL District. For Huber, it comes down to a need for more funds for RMs in general.
"It's always about money," Huber told reporters. "We can always use more money. There's no backing away from that."
The entity that SARM wants to see step up to the plate with more funding is the federal government. Huber pointed to the trip that municipal leaders were on last September to Ottawa, alongside the provincial Ministry of Government Relations, to lobby for dedicated infrastructure funding. At that time the Saskatchewan delegation had proposed a one-thirds funding share by each level of government.
"The trip that we were on last September with Minister (Eric) Schmalz and government relations, this was a partnership between the municipalities in Saskatchewan, rural and urban, also the provincial government and the federal government," said Huber.
"We need the feds to step up. The province is committed to it. The municipalities have committed to it. We need the feds to be committed to it and start writing the checks because it's long overdue."
Closer to home, Huber pointed to funding for infrastructure as a pressing need. He said SARM was fortunate in that they manage the Rural Integrated Roads for Growth, which sees the province contribute $16.9 million and the rural municipalities $29.1 million.
But Huber reiterated that it's "time that the federal government stepped up and started funding a few things in Western Canada. We've been left out of the picture for the last ten years."
Huber also noted the importance of roads, bridges, railroads and expanded port facilities to get products to market, "whether it's agriculture products, canola, wheat, pulses, and the mining industry."
"We've got uranium, we've got copper, we've got potash, stuff that's products that are demanded worldwide, and they're right here in Saskatchewan. So we've got to recognize the importance of making sure we can get our products, whether it's crops, agriculture products, or mining, those products to market, to our customers, so we have that great reputation maintained that we've always had, and increase it. So those are very important to our municipalities and our members."
Another key issue for delegates were issues surrounding mental health and addictions, and other complex needs. When asked much of a stressor that is for smaller communities, Huber acknowledged it is "huge. It's a huge stress."
Huber said SARM has "pushed for more RCMP members in our province and our rural communities and our small villages and towns." But he added that there was a need for better bail reform.
"There was a few changes in federal legislation a year ago, but not near enough. We have to keep these repeat offenders in the penitentiaries so that they're not continually released and they're committing the same things. We've got to get the drugs off the streets. I think once we accomplish that, we can see some improvement in mental health and addiction problems that can free up some space in hospitals and institutions and staff that it takes to manage all that."
An issue that has come up time and again is whether there should be more amalgamation of rural municipalities. Huber explained where SARM stands on the issue.
"We're opposed to forced amalgamation," Huber said. "We're certainly not opposed to volunteer amalgamation, where we can work together with a municipality, whether it's a boundary change or a village becoming part of a rural municipality or a village becoming part of another urban municipality. And some of the things that could be changed in regulation now from the Minister of Government Relations, I think is a big improvement for rural municipalities, and I think it will fit well, too, with the urbans. We need to work cooperatively with the urbans and the rurals to have a better concept of this, and the funding formula, you know, a lot better distributed the way it was."
