Congratulations are in order for Yorkton’s mayor and, by extension, city itself.
At the first post-election meeting of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), Bob Maloney was named vice president of cities. That means he is also now chair of Saskatchewan's mayor’s caucus.
The seat was vacated prior to the October municipal elections by former Humboldt Mayor Michael Eaton, who decided not to run again. Maloney was nominated by second-term mayor of Regina Michael Fougere.
It would appear our mayor is well-respected by his peers. And why not? Maloney has the experience of being mayor backed up by three terms as a city councillor.
And, like him or not, he is generally pretty level-headed and usually seems to have Yorkton's best interests in mind.
There are obviously potential personal advantages for the mayor to take on an expanded role beyond Yorkton, but what are the potential advantages for the city itself?
It begins with raising Yorkton's profile. If recent world events have anything to teach us, it is that even bad publicity is good publicity. And exposure can be a first step toward money, which, of course, is what it is all about.
As a senior player in SUMA, Maloney will have an opportunity to work more closely with higher levels of government. Financial participation of the Province and Canada is essential to moving forward Yorkton's primary agenda, which is, of course, reducing our infrastructure deficit.
Access to federal and provincial ministers is certainly an opportunity to advocate for local projects. And, like it not, this is how politics works. The mayor himself has said the money generally goes where the votes are.
To be fair, dollar for dollar, spending in big cities impacts more people and in the big scheme, Saskatchewan's big cities are actually not major cities. That makes Yorkton a third tier city at best. By federal standards we are not even considered urban.
Nevertheless, Maloney's elevation to caucus chair also gives the mayor a greater chance to influence the direction of the province in a time when the ruling party is promising "transformational change." In that regard, protecting revenue-sharing protocols is essential to municipal governments.
So, having our mayor sitting at the big boys' and girls' table right now, is a good thing.
We are not saying that Maloney's new position will automatically get the dollars flowing, nor, as arbiters of fairness, would we ever advocate such a thing. Obviously publicly-funded projects should be undertaken on the basis of their own merit.
Yorkton's projects, specifically rebuilding the downtown Broadway corridor, some of which is a century old, is certainly meritorious, particularly since the city's status as a regional hub continues to grow. That is only a factor, however, if the people who control the cash know how meritorious it is. The added exposure of vice president of cities is an opportunity to bring that forward.
There is also the little matter of strength in numbers. The very existence of SUMA speaks to the principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Keeping the whole strong is a balancing act of continuity matched with energy and fresh ideas.
With the recent spate of voting installing new mayors in Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Weyburn, Lloydminister and North Battleford, Maloney is a bit of stablity in the new provincial mix.
There is no fortelling, of course, whether having our guy ensconced at the executive level will definitely be helpful to Yorkton, but it almost certainly can't hurt.
