SARM takes Rural Issues to Ottawa
SARM President Dave Marit, Vice-president Jim Hallick and Director Ray Orb will be in Ottawa from November 19-24 to meet with federal officials to highlight the critical issues facing rural Saskatchewan.
SARM will be promoting four key issues at these meetings, the first being the need for a federally funded program to replace the Prairie Grain Roads Program to help address the rural infrastructure deficit. “There is a pressing need to provide funding for road infrastructure to service all economic ventures in rural areas to allow businesses and communities to grow,” said President Marit.
SARM will also be highlighting the impediments created by the Navigable Waters Act which was enacted over 120 years ago and is severely out of date to meet the needs of today. “SARM will be requesting that the act be amended immediately to make it more relevant,” said Marit.
SARM will also discuss various agriculture issues, emphasizing the current crisis facing the Canadian livestock industry as high input costs, a strong Canadian dollar and resulting depressed prices are impeding producers’ ability to compete in the world market. In addition, SARM will be discussing details of the proposed new suite of business risk management programs under APF II, called Growing Forward.
“Agriculture remains a pillar of our rural communities,” said Marit. “It is vital, as we progress to the next generation of agriculture policy, that we have programs that help sustain primary agriculture and address these business risk management issues.”
SARM will also be participating in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) “Lobby on the Hill Day” which will take place on Wednesday November 21. This day includes meetings amongst federal ministers, key federal officials, and municipal leaders from across Canada, with a goal to highlight the infrastructure deficits municipalities are facing.
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For more information contact:
David Marit
SARM President
306.476.7754 (cellular)
Ken Engel
SARM Executive Director
306.757.3578(office)
306.536.2948 (cellular)
