REGINA (Staff) — Change is coming for the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and SARM must hold firm to the principles of integrity and common sense, says outgoing president Bernard Kirwan.
SARM is the “only hands-on democratic voice left out there in rural Saskatchewan,” he told delegates in his final speech at the annual convention.
The amalgamation of rural municipalities will be done not to create large units, but to form more viable ones, he said. Kirwan said this movement is being driven from the local level, as it should be.
“There are a lot of small urbans wanting to come under the administration of rural municipalities. Also, there is this greater affinity of small urbans to rural municipalities and to our association because we’re more of a kind. The issues that we take up, the principles that we hold dear are more akin to small urbans as well.”
