Sinclair Harrison sailed through the first-ever challenge to his leadership of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities last week.
Then he began his seventh term by putting the board of directors immediately to work.
“I said I would use every ounce of energy in my body to turn the amalgamation issue around,” Harrison told delegates after a decisive 427-56 victory over Ray Orb of Cupar. He announced a board meeting would be held right after the convention closed.
Fears that municipalities will be forced by the provincial government to consolidate dominated the meeting, after the release of a task force report in late February. Harrison said municipal leaders have always said any consolidation has to be driven from the ground up.
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“That’s not what we’re seeing in the Garcea report right now,” he said, referring to Joe Garcea, the political scientist who led the task force. “We have to work hard at getting that turned around into a locally driven exercise.”
Harrison, who is reeve of the RM of Moosomin, said it’s likely that issue helped him keep the presidency.
“There are some very critical issues which I felt that if I could maintain the position of president, that perhaps we could move SARM ahead on those issues. I guess that’s what the membership felt also, that it was not the time to change in the year 2000.”
He said he took Orb’s challenge seriously because the mood in rural Saskatchewan is not good and that could have led to a change.
Orb said SARM needs to stick together to tackle issues like amalgamation, the farm crisis and tax revolts.
Harrison expects an announcement during the March 29 provincial budget to help farmers deal with the escalating education portion of property tax.
Also returned to SARM office last week were vice-president Neal Hardy of Hudson Bay and directors Don Taylor of Bredenbury, Keith Carleton of Neville and Nick Postnikoff of Blaine Lake.
