WHEREAS rural municipalities must incur the cost of firefighting incidents that occur as a result of failures of SaskPower owned equipment and infrastructure, where SaskPower claims no legal basis for making payment of such costs in the absence of negligence; and

WHEREAS rural municipalities, volunteer firefighters and council members are committed to ensuring their communities are safe and have the resources available to respond to all firefighting incidents; and

WHEREAS rural municipalities vary in size and are limited to available firefighting funding and resources, therefore depending on the severity of a fire incident, can be burdened with unpaid SaskPower firefighting costs related to the failure of SaskPower owned equipment and infrastructure; and

WHEREAS SaskPower being a crown corporation has a duty to the Saskatchewan public to ensure that all owned equipment and infrastructure are properly maintained and monitored;

BE IT RESOLVED SARM lobby the Province of Saskatchewan to hold the operation of the crown corporation SaskPower, to a higher standard than privately-owned utility companies across Canada regarding SaskPower policy on firefighting costs to ensure transparency and fairness to all residents within Saskatchewan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED SARM lobby the Province of Saskatchewan to address the matter of unpaid SaskPower firefighting costs resulting from failure of SaskPower owned equipment and infrastructure.

View response from the Minister Responsible for SaskPower