‘Our message was sent loud and clear’: Mayor of Yorkton among Sask. leaders to visit Ottawa

Yorkton mayor among delegates meeting federal leaders on restoring cost-shared infrastructure programs.

The Mayor of Yorkton was among representatives of seven Saskatchewan cities who travelled to Ottawa the past week. The purpose of their visit was to meet with federal leaders on restoring cost-shared infrastructure investment programs.

“There was a delegation that was put together by the Ministry of Government Relations with the Saskatchewan Government, tasked on behalf of the premier to talk to federal ministers, members of parliament, senators, secretaries of state, and talk about the infrastructure needs of Saskatchewan,” Yorkton Mayor Aaron Kienle told CTV News.

He said the representatives who came together formed a good-working team. Other than city officials, leaders of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association were also present.

“I think our message was sent loud and clear to the federal government on the infrastructure needs of what often, in bigger provinces, is considered like quite small or medium sized communities,” he referred to Yorkton, which has the population of 17,000.

“Certainly, our needs are on a greater scale than what our tax base is,” Kienle explained.

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Yorkton may be a small city, but it serves a trading area of about 150,000, according to the mayor. He said Yorkton produces and uses water at a rate of 30,000 people.

“It’s going to nearly double in the next year, just based on how large that expansion is with the [canola] crush plant.”

In his opinion, this makes a new wastewater treatment plan a big need for Yorkton and area.

“We’ve reached capacity,” Kienle said. “We’ve got one of the expanded plans coming in line in 2026. It’s going to take us right to the brink of capacity.”

He took this matter to the capital city.

“Our residents simply can’t bear the brunt of this entire project because it’s rather large and it’s grown so much from when I was on council to where we are today [to] almost triple,” he described the project that is estimated to exceed the cost of $200 million.

“So, we need the federal government’s support. We need the provincial government’s support, and the city of Yorkton is certainly willing to put up our share as well.”

He hopes that Yorkton’s new wastewater treatment plan will be included in the federal government’s budget come next spring.