News

During the 2015 federal election, the SUMA (SUMA) is calling for the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census. “The loss of the mandatory long-form census four years ago has resulted in a significant loss of the data municipalities need to plan for the future to meet the ever-changing needs of their residents,” said SUMA President Debra Button. “In some cases, the data is…

During the 2015 federal election, the SUMA (SUMA) is once again calling for a permanent, long-term, sustainable, and predictable infrastructure program that increases the overall amount of funding available for municipal infrastructure projects. “Saskatchewan municipalities need a program that helps us tackle the challenge of providing the services and infrastructure needed to accommodate…

The City of Prince Albert announced today that they are donating almost $20,000 to six projects as a result of a successful tournament and thanks to the contributions of private sponsors. For all the details on the donations, see the city's media release.

Funding was announced last week for 26 Saskatchewan projects through the New Building Canada Plan's Small Communities Fund. These projects total $11,517,336 each from the federal and provincial governments, with a matching amount coming from the individual municipal governments. You can see the full list of projects, and more details on the announcement are available on the provincial…

As the fires in northern Saskatchewan continue, the SUMA (SUMA) offers words of support to affected communities and residents. Our northern communities have many strong leaders, who are working extremely hard on behalf of their communities. Many of our other members are also to be commended for their cooperation and support.  "SUMA applauds everyone who has reached a hand out to their…

Earlier this year, we surveyed members to find out what purchasing opportunities you wanted us to pursue under the SUMAdvantage group purchasing program. We asked questions about your municipal annual spend, critical items to keep your operations running, and your suggested top five opportunities for us to consider. Thank you to all who responded; we received 111 responses to our survey which…

As the fires in northern Saskatchewan continue, the SUMA (SUMA) offers words of support to affected communities and residents. Our northern communities have many strong leaders, who are working extremely hard on behalf of their communities. Many of our other members are also to be commended for their cooperation and support. "SUMA applauds everyone who has reached a hand out to their…

Today, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) launched a new program to help municipalities better understand, navigate and reduce the barriers to brownfield redevelopment. FCM unveiled the program at the Canadian Brownfields Network’s annual conference in Toronto, ON. A brownfield is an abandoned, underused or contaminated commercial, institutional or industrial property where…

Congratulations to the City of North Battleford on winning a national municipal environment award for your biosolids management program. The Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) presented its 2015 CAMA Environment Award, in the under 20,000 population category, last week. See more details in this video.

This morning, SUMA sent out a special edition President's Update to alert our members about a new infrastructure grant program. The program opened yesterday and closes Wednesday, June 17, so we want to be sure all Saskatchewan urban municipalities have a chance to apply for this program. The program will invest $150 million over two years in projects that rehabilitate or improve cultural and…

Congratulations to the 14 urban municipalities and one RM that received funding from the province through the Community Airport Partnership (CAP). The funds – part of a cost-shared program – will be delivered to: Carlyle; Gravelbourg; Kindersley; Kipling; Luseland; Maple Creek; Moose Jaw; North Battleford; Shellbrook; Swift Current; Tisdale; Unity; …

The 2014 bylaw in the City of Prince Albert prohibiting taxi-cabs from going through drive-thru liquor outlets has been upheld in the Saskatchewan court of appeal. Read the CBC story for more details.

Today, representatives from municipal associations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba met in Regina to discuss issues of common interest. The associations represent urban and rural municipalities across the Prairie provinces. For more details, read the full media release.

Registration is open for the Town Sector Meeting, held May 12 and 13 in Regina. The draft agenda is available, and Policy Advisor Sean McKenzie is taking suggestions, should you have a topic you'd like to see discussed.

April 2 is National Employee Benefits Day, and Great West Life – the provider SUMA contracts for many of our group benefits plans – has created several videos on benefits that you may enjoy. Take a few minutes today to learn more. Why care about your benefits? How to sign up for GroupNet for Plan Members and direct deposit How to submit an online claim How to review your…