Infrastructure funding top of mind among Sask. urban municipalities

Alexander Quon · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 14, 2025 6:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

The outgo of improving and gathering caller section infrastructure — and who volition wage for it — has go 1 of the focuses astatine this year's yearly league of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA).

Held successful Saskatoon, this year's SUMA conference featured appearances from Premier Scott Moe and Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck.

SUMA president Randy Goulden said the national government's Investing successful Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) is already tapped out.

"I've talked to truthful galore municipalities, our members, these past fewer days very acrophobic due to the fact that the program, it's allocated fully. There's thing other coming retired and it is indispensable that we get immoderate funding," Goulden told media during a scrum connected on Monday.

WATCH| SUMA airing Sask. cities' cardinal predetermination issues: 

Goulden stressed that municipalities are not asking for handouts. She said they privation to beryllium partners with the national and provincial governments.

"We request those things truthful that our communities tin proceed to beryllium sustainable and supply the jobs and the manufacture and the commerce to marque our state healthy, but besides to provender everything that the state has to bash astir wellness and education," Goulden said.

Provincial governmental leaders respond

Premier Scott Moe agreed with Goulden, saying a caller infrastructure programme should beryllium a precedence for whoever forms authorities aft this month's national election.

Moe said ostentation has affected each municipality successful the province.

"We volition request a caller semipermanent unchangeable infrastructure backing exemplary truthful that municipalities tin plan, and truthful that they tin cost-share not lone with the national government, but with the provincial levels of authorities arsenic well," Moe said.

Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck said she agrees that the national authorities needs to lend a hand, but besides accused the provincial authorities of a deficiency of action.

Beck said she's spoken to galore municipality officials astatine SUMA and astatine different events and heard the aforesaid ailment — that the funding the state provides to municipalities isn't enough.

"[Municipalities] are liable for astir 60 per cent of the infrastructure successful this province, but they person entree to lone little than $0.10, astir $0.08 for each dollar. That is simply not a workable concern without enactment from different levels of government," Beck said.

Moe touted his government's "record increase" successful municipal gross sharing as impervious of however superior it takes the contented of infrastructure.

In its 2025/2026 budget, the state boosted municipal gross sharing by $22 cardinal to a full of $362 million. That was a 6.3 per cent summation from the erstwhile year's budget.

Moe said that wealth is disbursed to municipalities with nary strings attached and that makes it a "one-of-a-kind program."

Goulden thanked the state for that increase.

The SUMA president besides urged the state to conscionable with municipalities as soon arsenic the national predetermination is implicit to "hit the crushed running" and guarantee each levels of authorities are connected the aforesaid page.