News

The Government of Saskatchewan announced yesterday that the revenue sharing program for 2016-17 will continue as one point of the PST (collected two years ago), with a total pool of more than $271 million. This is a roughly two per cent increase over last year's revenue sharing amount. Funding will be allocated from the total pool to the sectors as follows: Cities: 47.945 per…

Thanks to all our Convention 2016 delegates for a busy four days. Now is delegates' chance to tell us what they thought of SUMA's 111th Annual Convention. Fill out the short survey for your chance to win two nights at the Hilton Garden Inn in Saskatoon!

Yesterday, the Government of Canada announced the launch of a national inquiry on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. SUMA joined our voice to the many calling for an inquiry earlier this year — first through a resolution at Convention 2015, then as part of the quality of life theme of our federal election advocacy. We appreciate the Government of Canada's…

The Ministry of Government Relations issues three information bulletins last week on the conflict of interest amendments and how they pertain to each of the three municipal acts. They were emailed to all municipalities, but are also available for reference here: Informational bulletin: The Cities Act Informational bulletin: The Northern Municipalities Act Informational bulletin: The…

As of January 1, 2016 milk containers will be obligated to be a part of municipal recycling programs in Saskatchewan. Starting January 1, 2016 SARCAN will begin a six-month phase-out of their milk recycling program. Milk container recycling will be covered by the Multi-Material Recycling Program (MMRP) operated by the Multi-Material Stewardship Western (MMSW). If you have not already done so, and…

The SUMA (SUMA) applauds the federal government for today’s announcement on the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census. This was a major point in SUMA’s advocacy work during the federal election campaign. For more details on SUMA's reaction to this announcement, read the full media release.

One of the new Liberal government's first acts will be to restore the mandatory long-form census, says the Toronto Star. SUMA is watching this file closely after the federal election, and is hopeful that Saskatchewan municipalities will once again have access to the valuable data provided by the long-form census. (See our municipal issues backgrounder in the 2015 Federal Election Advocacy…

Late Monday, Canada Post announced it is re-evaluating its path forward, given the challenges in the postal system. More details are available in this story from CBC.

Since Monday's federal election, there has been several places to see the municipal reaction to the results of election day. Thank you to SUMA members from President Button Sask. cities eager for Liberals' infrastructure plan Atchison welcomes Trudeau government

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…