Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities 2301 Windsor Park Road Regina, SK | S4V 3A4 | (306) 757-3577 | sarm.ca Policy Bulletin July 2019 July 2, 2019 ADVOCACY UPDATE: Prompt Payment The Government of Saskatchewan has passed legislation that creates a new prompt payment and mandatory adjudication scheme, which will impact new construction, as well as renovation and capital repair on existing facilities. Owners and developers will be required to provide payment within 28 days of receiving a proper invoice for construction services. Contractors will be required to provide payment to subcontractors within seven days. After receiving the proper invoice, owners will only have 14 days to determine if they have a dispute and to provide notice of non-payment. Parties can apply for mandatory adjudication. The Minister of Justice may designate an entity to act as the Adjudication Authority. It is not yet known where this authority will be housed. Decisions of the adjudicator are binding on parties. If a party disagrees with the decision, they can bring the matter to arbitration or court, but will be required to make the payment in the meantime. Bill 152 can be viewed here. The owners sector – including municipalities – were not consulted with prior to the introduction and passage of this legislation. SARM has a number of concerns with the legislation, including that 14 days is not long enough for a municipality to determine if they have a dispute with an invoice. We are currently working with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and SUMA to submit a joint position to the provincial government, requesting consultation with the municipal sector. We will keep you apprised of developments on this file. INFORMATION: Capital Projects Funding – Green Municipal Fund Are you looking for funding for an environmental capital project that will help make your community more sustainable, from implementing a new technology or model, to creating new bike paths, to reducing existing fuel consumption? Apply by August 1, 2019 for funding for your municipal project related to: • Energy efficiency and recovery • Transportation and fuel efficiency • Waste management and diversion • Water quality and conservation • Brownfields FCM’s Green Municipal Fund offers loans of up to $10 million combined with grants to Canadian municipalities of all sizes. More information INFORMATION: Innovation Challenge Winner Western Heritage, based out of Saskatoon, has been selected as the winner of the Rural Property Access Innovation Challenge. THE VOICE OF RURAL SASKATCHEWAN 1 of 12 Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities 2301 Windsor Park Road Regina, SK | S4V 3A4 | (306) 757-3577 | sarm.ca Policy Bulletin The Innovation Challenge, led by SARM with support from Innovation Saskatchewan, was announced in March by Premier Scott Moe. The challenge was launched to address changes to The Trespass to Property Act; specifically, looking to find a solution that would allow hunters, snowmobilers, and other land users to more easily ask property owners for permission before entering their land. Western Heritage’s winning proposal is a mobile application that allows users to request land access from verified landowners, and for landowners to manage access to their property by providing approvals. The application aims to maintain user anonymity and enable a two-way rating system, similar to Uber and Airbnb. Safety is also a priority, and the app will use auto- notifications during high-risk land use, by notifying users when there are multiple hunters in the area. Western Heritage will receive funding of up to $10,000 and a 16-week residency to develop their solution in collaboration with SARM and the provincial government. Work has already begun, and a prototype is expected to be introduced this fall. INFORMATION: Federal Government Announces Rural Strategies On June 27th, two federal rural economic development strategies were announced by Minister of Rural Economic Development Bernadette Jordan. The first, Rural Opportunity, National Prosperity: An Economic Development Strategy for Rural Canada outlines ways federal investments will be leveraged to improve the quality and resiliency of community infrastructure, create good jobs, support trade and investment, strengthen skills, and welcome newcomers in rural communities. The second, High-Speed Access for All: Canada’s Connectivity Strategy is the Government’s plan to provide all Canadians with access to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet. It also commits to improve mobile wireless coverage where Canadians live and work, and along major highways and roads. INFORMATION: Legislation Update: C-69 and C-48 SARM’s federal lobbyists H+K have provided the following updates on two pieces of key legislation that recently passed through the Senate. C-69 Bill C-69 was tabled in February 2018. Together with Bill C-68, which made significant changes to the Fisheries Act, the bills were designed to make substantial changes to how the government reviews and assesses major projects that fall under federal jurisdiction. The legislation was the federal government’s approach to installing an evidence-based approach to major project reviews, with an emphasis on consultation, and an attempt to demonstrate how the environment and the economy can work together. While the government sought to address some industry concerns and to provide a degree of certainty to project THE VOICE OF RURAL SASKATCHEWAN 2 of 12 Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities 2301 Windsor Park Road Regina, SK | S4V 3A4 | (306) 757-3577 | sarm.ca Policy Bulletin proponents by implementing a timeline for review, these concessions have failed to win over many members of Canada’s energy and resources sectors. C-69 passed with ninety-nine amendments accepted; the bill imposes more requirements for consulting affected Indigenous communities, widens public participation in the review process and requires climate change to be considered when major national resource-exploitation and transportation projects are being evaluated. It applies to a wide range of projects including inter provincial pipelines, highways, mines and power links. C-48 During study in the Senate, a number of amendments to C-48 were proposed. Of the major amendments proposed, the one accepted by the government requires a review of the legislation five years after coming into force. At the five-year mark, Parliamentarians including the relevant parliamentary committee will be allowed to review the ban and meet with interested stakeholders to understand its impact and assess any new developments. Interested stakeholders may include both those who were consulted and those who were not during its original study. Two of the major amendments that were rejected were the regional assessment and opening a corridor to Nisga’a Nation lands. The regional assessments would have required the federal environment minister to launch assessments of the ban within six months of it coming into force. It would also have required the minister to negotiate the terms of reference and the composition of the panel that would conduct the assessment with those stakeholders. SARM will continue to monitor how this legislation will affect Saskatchewan’s RMs going forward. July 9, 2019 INFORMATION: The Uniform Building and Accessibility Standards Act The Government of Saskatchewan recently passed amendments to The Uniform Accessibility and Building Standards Act ( UBAS Act). The Miscellaneous Statutes (Government Relations – Enforcement Measures) Amendment Act 2018 amended seven public and technical safety statutes (including the UBAS Act) to ensure uniformity across different legislation and to enable Government Relations and the Technical Safety Authority of Saskatchewan to better address situations of non-compliance and improve public safety. The changes focus on administrative penalties and accrual of files resulting from enforcement of offences pursuant to the Act. The Bill received Royal Assent on May 15, 2019. The amendments can be viewed here. SARM reached out to the Ministry of Government Relations to receive some clarity on the changes, particularly around the circumstances in which the provincial government can enforce. We learned that these changes are not intended to surpass a municipality’s own decisions regarding enforcement but are intended to give chief officials additional tools to address situations where requested by a municipality or where public safety is at risk. Please note that a request by a municipality does not compel a chief official to apply a penalty – the chief official will make an independent decision if a penalty is appropriate after considering the THE VOICE OF RURAL SASKATCHEWAN 3 of 12 Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities 2301 Windsor Park Road Regina, SK | S4V 3A4 | (306) 757-3577 | sarm.ca Policy Bulletin facts of the situation. These penalties can also be applied where a building owner has failed to adequately apply building, accessibility, plumbing or energy standards Further questions can be directed to the Building Standards and Licensing Branch at the Ministry of Government Relations. INFORMATION: Household Hazardous Waste Management Program On July 5, the provincial government announced that it has enacted The Household Hazardous Waste Product Stewardship Regulations. These regulations will require first sellers to operate a product stewardship program for the collection and safe disposal of household hazardous waste (HHW) products. First sellers are the