Rural councilors are readying for another struggle against forced amalgamation by the Saskatchewan government.
This time the danger isn’t amalgamation of rural municipalities but health districts, RM representatives said at the Saskat-chewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual convention.
“They’re out of touch now. Making bigger districts would just make that problem worse,” said SARM president Sinclair Harrison. “It makes absolutely no sense to us.”
But provincial politicians said there is no point getting worked up now, because the government has no policy to force health districts to amalgamate.
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The government won’t have a position until after the Fyke Commission on Medicare delivers its report, said premier Lorne Calvert. The report is expected by the beginning of April.
“I am not here today making any specific statement about directions we’ll take before we’ve even seen the report,” said Calvert to the SARM meeting.
“I will see the report when it is delivered. I will see the recommendations and we’ll make further decision.”
Some rural councilors said they have heard from the commission that the report might recommend shrinking the number of districts from 33 to 13.
They demanded Calvert promise he wouldn’t force districts to merge. Calvert refused to commit the government.
SARM members fought against forced municipal amalgamation, something many believed the provincial government would attempt because of a report that recommended massively reducing the number of municipalities in Saskatchewan.
“I hope we don’t have to go through the same process as we had to last year: having meetings, filling halls, telling the government what to do,” said Harrison.
