Eaton returns from final FCM meeting before election

During one of the final Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conferences before the federal election, a few key issues such as affordable housing, infrastructure funding, and disaster mitigation were brought up.

“These are common issues right across the country, whether it’s roads, bridges, or water sewer systems, all communities are being challenged to fund and pay for major infrastructure,” said Eaton. “Also, some other topics like an aging population and the needs that seniors have across the country were brought up.”

These topics aren’t exactly new since they were part of ongoing discussions for the committees for the last several months. Affordable housing in particular hasn’t been forgotten since it’s becoming necessary for seniors and the increasing number of renters moving to Saskatchewan. Eaton said that while the City of Humboldt may have gotten out of the real estate business, it has been working with private developers to find a solution to this particular problem.

“It’s a lengthy and delicate process that involves someone making a significant investment in order to access the funding that the province would make, and it doesn’t happen easily or overnight,” said Eaton. “When it all happens, it’ll be good and until it does, it’s not really real.”

Beyond that problem was the most wide-reaching issue of accessing infrastructure funding. The communities are still waiting for a response from the provincial government regarding the revenue sharing funding since most communities have built budgets based on that expected income.

Lastly, the communities also discussed disaster mitigation.

“The federal government has been involved and has offered financial support to provinces and municipalities when we have unforeseen disasters like flooding, ice storms, tornadoes, and certainly a number of severe weather incidents that have caused concern and damage,” said Eaton. “There were discussions as to how communities should respond to those situations in terms of emergency planning and being prepared for those kinds of emergencies and then the kind of work you do to recover after.”

Since representatives from communities all across the country usually attend the FCM meetings, there are different forums available for different communities based on population size. As such, representatives can choose to focus on specific topics more applicable to them, such as rural issues.

According to Eaton, one topic was of particular interest to quite a number of representatives, and that was the issue of missing or murdered Aboriginal women. That topic came up a few times not only at this meeting, but the one prior as well.

“SUMA (Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association) passed a resolution calling on federal and provincial governments to support an inquiry and action plan,” said Eaton. “It’s an interesting topic and the extent of it is quite astounding when you get a room full of people from across the country talking about various incidents.”

The FCM meetings aren’t just about discussions and listening to speakers either. They’ve also managed to achieve a few things as well, such as ensuring that communities receive a portion of the gas tax. Humboldt in particular is given approximately $300,000 back annually, which is then invested right back into road maintenance, said Eaton. That program isn’t temporary either; it’s set to be maintained for the next decade.

Another success is the expansion of the broadband network across Canada, which was lobbied to improve the whole Internet and cellular network.

“One of the things that the FCM does is operate with committees that focus in particular areas,” said Eaton. “One of the benefits is that it helps us identify common issues and things we’re all struggling with and allows us to put forth those challenges and issues to the federal government.”

With the issues raised during these meetings, the FCM will ensure that the political parties are prepared to address these issues during their federal election campaigns. As such, the political party programs should address what the federal government can provide for municipalities.

“When the federal election is called, the FCM is certainly going to be putting forward the issues that are important to the hometowns across the country,” said Eaton. “The federation advocates for municipalities right across the country. It represents all the towns, villages and cities (in order to assist) the federal government in creating better policies.”

Following this meeting, Eaton will also have to read the material acquired from the FCM meeting and be prepared to relate it to his own community at the next SUMA board meeting. This information will also be presented at the next council meeting.