The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association voiced concerns about changes proposed to the Canada Community Building Fund by the federal government.

The Community Building Fund is an agreement between the federal government and the provincial government that affects municipalities by giving funding for infrastructure projects. 

Vice President of Villages, Resort Villages, and Northern Municipalities, Mike Strachan explained that the proposed changes add requirements to cities that have 30,000 people or more to emphasize affordable housing and substantially increase reporting requirements for those municipalities. 

“The concern with that is as we move forward and if this continues, it will trickle down to the smaller municipalities,” said Strachan. “Which are the towns, the villages, and northern municipalities in Saskatchewan.”  

Strachan said that even though they have more people in the larger communities, it does take a long time to report to the provincial and federal government, and in the smaller communities this will be an added stress on the administration.

“The real benefit of the program for municipalities is there’s not really any red tape to get this funding that ultimately goes into everybody's community for infrastructure,” said Strachan. “It’s a really great program for communities, all across the province.” 

Municipalities must apply for the CCBF and provide audited financial statements. If approved the money is transferred and the community can use it for infrastructure changes. 

This could include water treatment plants, sewer systems, and road upgrades.  

Strachan explained that adding these additional measures to the funding will take away decision-making from leadership and decision-making in the smaller municipalities.

“When they start adding more stipulation, you’ll start to see smaller communities move away from it because the money they do get doesn’t match up with what they put in for time applying for this grant.”  

He reiterated that this is why the program is so good because it doesn’t take away too much time from the administration to get this grant.  

“There are not that many funding opportunities for municipalities in Saskatchewan, and things that take away funds from those municipalities ultimately fall onto ratepayers having to pay more in property taxes to cover some these infrastructures deficits that they do have.”  

He said that SUMA is not on board with any changes to programs that already help these communities.