12-Month Lobbying Summary - Consultant

Subject Matters

• Agriculture
• Budget
• Climate
• Elections
• Employment and Training
• Energy
• Environment
• Federal-Provincial Relations
• Fisheries
• Health
• Industry
• Infrastructure
• International Trade
• Justice and Law Enforcement
• Labour
• Municipalities
• Regional Development
• Research and Development
• Taxation and Finance
• Telecommunications
• Transportation

Subject matters added through a communication report:

• Immigration
• Internal Trade
• Internal Trade

Subject Matter Details

Grant, Contribution or Other Financial Benefit

• Rural Healthcare & Recruitment - funding for increase recruitment and retention of healthcare workers in remote rural areas of Saskatchewan

Grant, Contribution or Other Financial Benefit, Policies or Program

• Federal support for municipalities and agricultural producers in Saskatchewan in relation to the Economic Response Plan.

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution

• Actively lobbied and supported the federal governments efforts to resolve the trade issues regarding Country of Origin Labelling (COOL).
• Cannabis Act and regulations; mitigating potential risks to municipalities resulting from legalization.
• Carbon Fuel Standards Act; in regard to the impact it will have on Western Canada
• Fisheries Act; ensure it effectively balances the need for habitat protection with the need for municipal infrastructure development.
• Justice and Law Enforcement with regard to amending acts and regulations in relation to firearms.
• Navigation Protection Act; placed administrative and financial burdens on municipal infrastructure projects. SARM is concerned that the 2012 amendments will be reversed.
• Participating in consultations on reducing violent crime consultations and position against bringing in a long gun registry.
• Railway tax exemptions – CP Rail’s request for tax exemption will affect provincial budget and revenue sharing
• Saskatchewan Act – Section 24 of the Saskatchewan Act regarding the tax exemption to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company
• Species at Risk Act (SARA); mitigating negative effects of SARA.
• Trade Agreements; including Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) and United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), our request is to better international trade for agriculture producers.
• Transportation Modernization Act; SARM participating in consultation to promote efficient and effective grain transportation.

Policies or Program

• Agriculture: Business Risk Management Program Suite under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership - In particular requesting changes to the AgriStability Program to provide enhanced support for producers.
• Bill C-234 is calling for changes to the "Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act"
• Bridge and Road Funding – Supply chain impacts in BC have shown the importance of maintaining strong infrastructure; Rural Saskatchewan needs more funding for bridges and roads in order to carry agriculture, mining and forestry products.
• Broadband - Requesting government investment to enhance services in rural Saskatchewan. “Use it or lose it” provisions in spectrum allocation and unused spectrum.
• Broadband - SARM's key focus is to assist with addressing long-standing issues affecting broadband connectivity; and, advise and direct actions leading to a shared strategy, investment, and vision. The SARM Broadband Action Committee is committed to achieving broadband infrastructure parity by 2024, and exceed the CRTC standard by 2027, for all Saskatchewan residents, regardless of location.
• Broadband – The Rural Broadband Action Committee is moving forward with bringing entities together that will help bring affordable, reliable broadband connectivity to rural Saskatchewan
• Broadband – continue the investments in rural broadband and meet the CRTC’s targets of download speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of at least 10 Mbps
• Canadian Agriculture Partnership; ensuring that it serves to maintain and increase the competitiveness of the agricultural sector.
• Carbon Tax/Offset – Requesting Canada follow the EU and remove carbon tax from natural gas bill. Carbon credits would help balance between environmental protection and economic growth. SARM participating in development of provincial offset program that is meaningful for agriculture producers and equivalent to a federal program.
• Carbon tax; impact of carbon tax on Saskatchewan’s agricultural producers and municipalities.
• Chronic wasting disease; policies to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease.
• Control of Richardson Ground Squirrels with regard to research and control methods, including the use of Strychnine
• Drought Impact - Business risk management tools will have to be maintained and possibly enhanced if drought conditions continue next year
• Emergency response fund; the establishment of an emergency response fund will give fire departments the resources they need to continue providing essential services without risk of non-payment.
• Energy Infrastructure - Advancing the notion that Pipelines are a safer mode of transportation than rail to the Canadian Energy Regulator.
• Fertilizer reduction – focus on an absolute emissions reduction, rather than an intensity-based target, is misplaced and will likely cause severe economic harm & more emissions can be reduced through increased uptake of the 4R Nutrient Stewardship program while improving the competitiveness and profit of farmers
• Financial assistance programs for agricultural producers, ensuring that they serve to maintain and increase competitiveness and success of the agricultural sector.
• Food Security – Provide farm operations with the eligibility to apply for the 1A grant funding; incentivize employment and employee retention programs in rural areas of the country to aid in stabilizing labour supply; provide employment training opportunities to be held well in advance of busy times in the Ag industry; and ask that the federal government evaluate its process and the requirements for newcomers to get proper permits to enter the Canadian workforce. Focus on efficiency and reduce barriers so employers can access readily available employees
• Infrastructure funding programs for municipalities with regard to the need for continued and increased levels of funding.
• Infrastructure funding; ensuring eligibility requirements and thresholds allow rural municipalities to access infrastructure funding.
• International trade with respect to Canola exports
• Liberal Fertilizer Reduction plan
• Municipal access to Canada-Saskatchewan Job Grant.
• Mutual aid agreements; formalizing mutual aid agreements is important because RMs need assurance that they will be reimbursed for providing emergency services to neighbouring municipalities and First Nations.
• National Disaster Mitigation Program; to ensure mitigation projects and strategically and effectively undertaken.
• Natural Disasters (BC Flooding) – amplifying issues surrounding Canada’s supply chain network and the need for a wider lens when monitoring these situations as they relate to all areas of each Province
• New Building Canada Fund; eligibility requirements and thresholds.
• Pipeline: The pipeline as a greener alternative to shipping oil and gas and the positive effect on Saskatchewan
• Port of Vancouver grain loading issues, Railway/supply chain concerns especially around being able to move the crop from 2022 harvest to ports
• Provide comments on the need for improvements to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program.
• RCMP costs - Unionization-related costs coupled with rising policing costs overall could result in significant financial burdens for municipalities
• RCMP presence in rural Saskatchewan. Preventing rural crime.
• RCMP – given the economic increase/market adjustments in the collective agreement, pay increases total more than 23 per cent over the six years, retroactive to 2017 & SARM is calling on the federal government to fully absorb all retroactive pay increases that the federal government negotiated
• Rail Safety; Transporting dangerous goods by rail. Grade crossing improvements.
• Requesting federal government lead the fight to prevent spread of aquatic invasive species throughout Canada and Saskatchewan’s waters.
• Requests to maintain a Gas Tax Fund and to reduce related administrative requirements for RMs.
• Rural Crime; in regard to potential need for provincial police force
• The Canada Infrastructure Bank - Irrigation infrastructure for agriculture in Saskatchewan
• The Rural Municipal (RM) Tax Loss Compensation Trust Fund tied to Treaty Land Entitlement agreements continues to decrease and appears to be unsustainable without municipalities absorbing significant reduction in monies from the fund.
• Vaccine Development: resulting from the COVID-19, SARM would like to see vaccine development in SK and throughout the Country - SARM supports VIDO's initiatives
• Water treatment systems; alternative water treatment technologies continue to be explored and, where feasible, applicable regulations and guidelines be updated to allow for the most efficient use of those technologies.

Policies or Program, Regulation

• Transportation policy and regulation with regard to grain and grain products and products for agriculture generally.

Regulation

• Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA); with respect to increasing the compensation for use of municipally owned equipment.
• Emissions regulations – industries are heavily dependent on fossil fuels to produce energy, food, fertilizer, products and commodities needed around the world. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gases should not disadvantage one region of Canada more than another
• Federal Election; how COVID-19 public health challenges and measures may impact voter participation in rural municipalities, and recommendations to facilitate voter participation amidst the pandemic.