Rural Councillor
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RC RURAL COUNCILLOR VOLUME 53 number 2 Summer 2020 ISSUE PUBLISHED BY THE SASKATCHEWAN ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MUNICIPALITIES Publications Agreement #40062693 Then & Now This special edition is a compilation of Rural Councillor publications from its inception to the present day. About the cover: A road grader at work in the RM of Browning No. 34 in 1929. Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society (www.shfs.ca), Adrian Paton Collection. Paton681. RURAL COUNCILLOR | Summer 2020 RC 1 RURAL The future is in your hands. COUNCILLOR Don’t let it go to waste.™ WHAT CAN BE RECYCLED? Display Devices Non-Cellular Home Audio/ Desktop Telephones Video Systems Computers Portable Computer Vehicle Audio/ Personal/Portable Computers Peripherals Video Systems Audio/Video (aftermarket) Systems Desktop Home Theatre Printers/ In-A-Box (HTB) Multi-Function Systems Devices ADDITIONAL ITEMS ACCEPTED AS OF MAY 1, 2018 E-Book Floor-Standing External Desktop & Readers Photocopiers/Multi- Storage Drives Portable Function Devices & Modems Scanners Countertop Global Positioning Video Gaming Microwave System (GPS) Personal Systems & Ovens Portable & Vehicle Peripherals (aftermarket) To find out what and where to recycle, visit recycleMYelectronics.ca/SK 2 RC RURAL COUNCILLOR | Summer 2020 Killdeer Badlands, Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan RC RURAL Contents COUNCILLOR inside 6 Past Presidents of SARM 7 Message from Bernard Kirwin 8 Message from Sinclair Harrison 9 Message from Neal Hardy 10 Message from the Honourable David Marit 26 RMAA of Saskatchewan – 100 Years Strong 27 RCMP Officer Reflects on 20 Years of Policing in SK 28 Living Heritage in Rural Saskatchewan 30 Local Voices – Local Choices VOLUME 53 Number 2 31 Training Changes People and Organizations Summer 2020 ISSUE 32 Ike Thiessen Building a Foundation Award PUBLISHED BY THE SASKATCHEWAN 33 Saskatchewan Municipal Awards ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MUNICIPALITIES 35 Roadside Development Permits Publications Agreement #40062693 36 15 Community Airports Receive Provincial Grants Official publication of the 37 Haying and Ditch Mowing Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the Rural Municipal 38 Rural Integrated Roads for Growth Program Administrators’ Association of Saskatchewan. 39 Lieutenant Governor's Award Published four times per year by: Benchmark Public Relations 2260 McIntyre Street Regina, SK S4P 2R9 T (306) 522-9326 features 4 Ray Orb, SARM President F (306) 522-0923 President's Message E [email protected] SARM's History in Saskatchewan W www.benchmarkpr.ca 5 11 Rural Councillor – A look back over the years Editor Associate Editor Pat Rediger Corette Mihalcea/ 12 SARM Firsts and Fun Facts Kelsay Reimer 14 Remebering the 1960s (SARM) Remebering the 1970s Layout & Design Advertising 16 Nicole Williams Warren Nerby/ 18 Remebering the 1980s Don Shalley 20 Remebering the 1990s SARM Board 22 Remebering the 2000s President, Ray Orb, Cupar Laurel Feltin, SARM Director of Programs and Operations Vice President, Carmen Sterling, Weyburn 24 Resolutions Through the Years Directors Bill Huber, Lipton 34 Lynne Roszell, SARM Division 4 Plant Health Officer Norm Nordgulen, Assiniboia Larry Grant, Val Marie On-going Battle Against Agricultural Pests and Weeds Harvey Malanowich, Canora 40 Getting to Know SARM Judy Harwood, Saskatoon Darwin Whitfield, Coalville 41 New Faces at SARM Wendy Gowda, Leroy (ex-Officio) 42 Member News Rural Councillor is now online at: www.sarm.ca @SARM_Voice Views are those of the contributors and are not By being the rural voice, SARM will effectively lead autonomous municipalities in creating a vibrant, diverse necessarily the views of SARM. our vision economy resulting in a strong, sustainable Saskatchewan. Return undelivered copies to: SARM delivers timely, dependable programs and services to meet the needs of its members while influ- Saskatchewan Association our mission encing government policy and facilitating municipalities to work together to foster rural development and of Rural Municipalities build strong, sustainable communities. 2301 Windsor Park Road Regina, SK S4V 3A4 COUNCILLOR President’s RURAL message BY RAY ORB SARM President GREETINGS to everyone and welcome had given a presentation at an annual been pushing really hard to continue again to the Rural Councillor magazine. meeting of the Cupar School Division. the registration for strychnine and have It seems fitting for me to provide a The presentation was focused on the asked the PMRA to consider that there synopsis of my municipal career in this inequity on what urban ratepayers were are no real effective alternatives. special edition which hopefully will be an paying in education tax on property, Over the years as chair of the FCM interesting read. versus that which farmers were paying. Rural Forum, I’ve had the opportunity I was first elected on RM council in The next step was to approach the SARM to work with the Federation of Canadian the fall of 1985, which sometimes seems Board, and I fondly recall attending a municipalities and to lobby for broad- like eons ago, while at other times like SARM Board meeting at the Hamilton band connectivity for not only rural just yesterday. I was always interested in Street location with a delegation of Saskatchewan but for rural Canada as a municipal issues and always interested in other reeves from the surrounding area. whole. Too much of our rural area in this farming, probably because my ancestors The first two people I met was Neal province is underserved in high speed came from a small farming village in east- Hardy, who was then the SARM Presi- internet, and cellular service still needs central Europe in 1902. dent, and Ken Engel, who was SARM’s improvement to coverage. Although I grew up on a farm in the Executive Director. This lack of connectivity has really Markinch area, I was fortunate to have The SARM Board was very interested come to light during the current COV- lived in a city for about seven years and in the topic, and in the end through a ID-19 crisis, and SARM is eagerly awaiting to have lived in a small town which also is lengthy period of rallies and intense meetings with SaskTel and other private a farming community. lobbying, convinced the Saskatchewan service providers that are really keen As time went by, I became more Party government to take action on the on discussing business ventures that interested in municipal politics and issue soon after the Saskatchewan Party will allow rural residents to have better was elected as a councillor and then as formed government in 2007. communications and access to faster reeve of the Rural Municipality of Cupar, The rest is history as Saskatchewan download and upload speeds that are a position I still proudly hold. In 2004 farmers and ranchers save millions of both consistent and reliable. I was elected as a director of SARM, dollars every year partly because we as I have been very fortunate to be an vice-president in 2010 and president in RM councillors and reeves were relent- integral part of the lobby for a better 2014. Over those years I saw tremendous less and would not give up until we saw a rural Saskatchewan and to be a part of changes, not only at SARM, but in our meaningful reduction of education taxes. the SARM Board of Directors. We have province, and in particular, in the rural The government of the day listened, a very effective and diligent board and a communities that are essentially the took action and became champions of very capable and hardworking staff that backbone of our provincial community. the issue and deserve a lot of credit, still are very good at their jobs. I also came to see the inequities to this day. SARM has been in existence for 115 between rural and urban taxation and That particular issue stands out the years, and it has seen many changes in began to focus on the unfair education most. But so do the years of drought, government at the provincial and federal tax burden on agricultural producers. In in particular 1988, BSE in 2003 and the level. SARM has always endeavored to be 2004, the Boughen report was tabled in flooding years of 2010 and 2011 are not non-partisan and to work with govern- Saskatchewan, and the school division easily forgotten either. ments, as much as possible, rather than that I lived in had the highest educa- While SARM consistently lobbied for working against them. tion tax mill rate in the province, 23.88 more funding for infrastructure, includ- SARM is recognized as a very effective mills. This was, without a doubt, causing ing roads and bridges, we also lobbied and well-respected organization, and I tremendous hardship in the RMs in my for agriculture including improvements believe that this requires tremendous area, especially in the RM of Cupar, and to the grain handling system, better energy and an ongoing strategy to make it was, in essence, a large impediment safety net programs to support agricul- sure that our 296 rural municipalities are to economic development and left the tural producers, through the good years heard, and more importantly, listened to. financial security for many, if not all, RMs and the bad. in the province at risk. All the best and let’s hope that things We also lobbied for better pest can get back to normal as soon as pos- Previously, the current Administrator control programs, including rat control, sible. Good health to everyone. of the RM, Loretta Young, and myself beaver control and clubroot. We have 4 RC RURAL COUNCILLOR | Summer 2020 SARM's History in Saskatchewan BEFORE THERE WAS A PROVINCE of Saskatchewan, there was municipal government in what would become the prov- ince of Saskatchewan. SARM was there when the ground was first broken, when the roads first connected us as a province.