Interesting things are happening in Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) joined with the SHCA to raise the volume on our message regarding provincial infrastructure funding.
SARM has called on the provincial government to increase funding for rural roads and bridges. It said that without urgent attention, there will be significant economic and social consequences for Saskatchewan.
Background
Saskatchewan rural municipalities (RMs) are responsible for 164,000 kilometres of roads, Canada’s largest road network and 1280 bridge structures.
Unfortunately, given the current level of provincial funding that’s dedicated to rural infrastructure, we have not been able to keep up:
- 60 per cent of rural bridges are at, or beyond, their expected service lifespan and need to be replaced to avoid safety hazards or a serious disruption in our export of products.
- Our roads connect our rural population to each other and to urban centres – maintaining this connection is critical.
- Our province’s economic generators (mining, agriculture, oil and gas, manufacturing, ag tech, etc.) need connection to urban centres and to export markets. Healthy infrastructure is essential for exporting our goods and supporting jobs in the province.
- Without further aid, Saskatchewan’s economy will suffer, and we will face serious economic and social consequences.
As we all know, this isn’t limited to rural infrastructure. Urban infrastructure is also in urgent need of investment.
Saskatchewan’s Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) has numerous resolutions from its convention calling on more provincial support, especially for its urgent construction projects.
Government funding is seriously lagging the great infrastructure needs in Saskatchewan.
Our industry has been asking for a long-term, serious commitment to building and maintaining our provincial infrastructure, and our municipalities are saying that the situation is reaching near-crisis levels.
Government Funding Ignores Inflation
SARM points out that funding for the rural road program decreased from $25M in 2009-2014 to $15M from 2015-2023. While there was a modest increase in funding in the 2024/2025 program year (to $17.4M), this funding does not consider one of our members biggest problems – inflation.
As it relates to rural infrastructure:
- The cost of building a bridge per square foot increased by 36 per cent between 2010 and 2020 and another 25 per cent between 2020 and 2022.
- Road construction costs also increased. Many members report stark increases in their costs (fuel, materials, labour, etc.). This has resulted in our members withdrawing from bidding on some municipal projects because government funding doesn’t support the actual costs of the project.
Inflationary costs that our members reflect in their bid pricing isn’t adequately addressed in the funding that government provides to rural and urban municipalities.
This leads to fewer projects being tendered and creates great uncertainty for our members as they can’t plan, and adequately provide for, projects in the future.
The larger implications are that Saskatchewan people, who are working hard to produce fuel, fertilizer and food, are deeply concerned about how we will move our goods to the world markets.
They are also concerned about their critical connections to urban centres.
An Election Request
So, I am asking that during this provincial election, if you come face-to-face with a candidate who is running to become a member of legislative assembly, please take the time to ask them for their help in giving our province’s infrastructure the attention it needs.
Remind candidates that it is not only possible, but imperative, to build and support all the infrastructure required to help Saskatchewan remain competitive on the world stage.
Tell them if we don’t keep up, our province’s growth plan and future prosperity is at risk.
We need to look for government leaders who have the vision to build modern infrastructure that connects supply chains, moves goods, supports job creation and ensures our economy will continue to grow.
We also need government leaders who will preserve and enhance the quality of life we enjoy in Saskatchewan that often requires connectivity between rural and urban Saskatchewan.
During this campaign, we are hearing all politicians, regardless of their political stripe, painting a picture of how their leadership will improve our quality of life.
But that requires infrastructure investment – please take the time to remind them of this.
