Jan. 31-Feb. 3 saw mayors and staff from communities all across the province meet in Regina for the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention, including Humboldt mayor, Malcolm Eaton, five City of Humboldt councilors and members of the City of Humboldt staff.
Conferences like this give mayors and councillors opportunities to share ideas and discuss common issues, says Eaton.
“Part of the reason we go to this, it’s not so much what we contribute but what we were able to learn and bring back.”
The convention had numerous education sessions, including one on the new conflict of interest policy that was passed in November.
Eaton attended the session and says this was a very important change to how city council works, along with clear definitions of what conflict of interest actually is.
“It includes some new procedures for councillors and mayors in terms of disclosure of our business interests.”
More importantly, says Eaton, the provincial ombudsman will now act as a mediator for conflict of interest problems that anyone sees as mishandled.
The ombudsman will not necessarily look at the decisions made but whether proper processes were followed by the council involved.
Mayor of Melfort, Rick Lang, says these new regulations will make it very similar to what MLAs have to declare for their conflict of interest policy.
Lang does not have a problem with these stricter regulations.
“There was a comment made during the session that said, ‘if you ever doubt that you might be in conflict, you probably are.’”
Premier Brad Wall also spoke at the convention.
Eaton says he took two things from Wall’s speech, revenue sharing will continue and the provincial government is noticing the common theme in many Saskatchewan communities when it comes to water and sewer issues.
Wall got to see that first hand when he came to Humboldt in June and spoke with city council about water and sewer infrastructure.
“That’s exactly what we were talking about; the importance of getting support from the province and federal governments for water and sewer up grades. He certainly acknowledged that in his remarks that that’s common and important to the growth of the province.”
Under current revenue sharing policy, Humboldt receives around a million dollars a year, which is around $209 per capita.
This amount will increase by 2.4 per cent in 2016.
Lang says that everyone was pleased to hear that revenue sharing is going to continue considering they were given the opposite impression at last years’ convention.
City members brought numerous resolutions to the table to be passed at the conference.
Humboldt brought a resolution to the convention that ensures plumbing inspections, permits, and sewage inspections in residential and commercial areas can be done by crews outside the regional health authority.
“We feel we want to have the ability or the option to do an agreement with the Saskatoon Health Region that we take on that responsibility.”
Given the pressure on the storm water and sewage systems, the city wants to be more actively engaged in inspections, says Eaton.
“It is our sewage and water system, we set the rules around that so we feel it’s important for us to be inspecting that.”
Pipeline approval comes from urban municipality meeting
Mayors from across Saskatchewan will be writing a letter to the federal Energy Minister in support of the Energy East Pipeline.
This was decided at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention that took place in Regina from Jan. 31-Feb. 3.
The pipeline currently spans through Saskatchewan to Ontario but expansion into Alberta and the maritimes so more western oil can be transported to New Brunswick refineries has been a controversial subject.
“Especially with the mayors in the Montreal area saying they don’t want the pipeline, this has become a national debate,” says Mayor of Humboldt, Malcolm Eaton.
Mayor Rick Lang of Melfort says that this is more a question of pipelines versus rail transport.
“You have to look at the idea that oil has to be transported somehow within the country,” says Lang.
Many communities did have reservations about the pipeline, but the majority were on board with the support letter.
“It would certainly be a benefit to Saskatchewan to see this pipeline go through,” he says.
With many countries vying for oil revenues, if Canada is not exporting our own oil, we are just importing oil from else where, says Lang.
“To me, it doesn’t make sense that we would keep importing from overseas to fill a requirement for oil needed in this country when we have the oil available in this country.”
This is turning into an east versus west debate with Ontario and Quebec importing from Saudi Arabia and not supporting Alberta and Saskatchewan oil productions, says Eaton.
“It feels like we’re going back to the old days where there was this huge battle that happened to be Trudeau versus the west on the national energy program. We’re heading back towards that battle, unfortunately.”
Expanding the pipeline would mean huge economic impacts for Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Supporting the pipeline does not mean a lack of support for alternative forms of energy or environmental protection, says Eaton.
SaskPower was also at the convention to speak on alternative energy projects that are happening all across the province.
Wind and solar projects, as well as a hydroelectric project at Black Lake was also energy topics for discussion, says Eaton.
The theme of debate is usually oil versus alternative forms of energy. Eaton says Canada has to be both.
“Until wind and solar and alternative energy sources are more affordable, more readily available, there’s going to be a reliance on oil.”
Oil is not going to go away anytime soon, says Lang, but involved in oil production are still moving forward on renewable energy sources.
“Eventually, you see the energy of the renewable type.”
We are going in the right direction, says Eaton, who cites numerous alternative energy projects within Humboldt.
Whether by pipeline or rail, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities supports the National Energy Board and the strengthening of the environmental research and standards, as well as the rail safety discussions and guidelines.
“There’s been a lot of issues around rail safety, the same thing needs to apply to pipelines.”
A lot of attention has been given to the environmental sides of the issue, says Eaton but there has been many businesses that have stepped up and taken the environmental standards into practice.
Eaton says that is what the federal government is doing right now is taking more time to study the issue.
