Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention kicks off in Regina

The opening ceremonies of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) convention kicked off on Wednesday morning with addresses from officials, award presentations and guest speakers.

“It’s really important that our rural delegates, you know, the reeves, the councillors, and the administrators get a chance to come and do some networking, talk about some common issues,” Said SARM president, Ray Orb.

The convention hosts around 2,000 delegates and guests from across Saskatchewan. The week features a variety of events in addition to the trade show, including opportunities to focus on solving issues facing municipalities across the province, and discussing those issues with officials from all three levels of government.

“We all have a lot of common issues right now. We talked a little this morning about health care, about rural policing, economic development affecting roads and bridges, our infrastructure and how we need more federal funding, but we need more provincial funding as well,” Orb said.

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Guest speaker, Merle Massie is a Saskatchewan historian with the Canadian Center for rural and agricultural health, who explained that many of the province’s notable accomplishments are a result of gatherings like this one.

“Some of the most innovative events or projects or ideas or pilots that we’ve had come from rural Saskatchewan. Medicare is rooted in rural, it’s rooted in all kinds of RMs and small towns that made different choices on how they were going to address their local medical issues,” Massie explained.

Orb expressed that he’s looking forward to having a say in conversations that could have an impact on the future of the province.

“We get to listen to the premier but we get to listen to cabinet ministers, in some of the dialogue sessions where some of our members can sit down with them more individually and talk about some of the issues and ask questions,” he said.

The convention will be running up until Friday.