The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) kicks off their annual convention this week.
Over 2,000 members from across the province will be gathering in Saskatoon for a few days of discussion learning and voicing concerns.
The three-day event will be held at Prarieland Park in conjunction with a trade show.
Three Canadian government cabinet ministers and Premier Scott Moe will be in attendance to hear concerns from rural Saskatchewan.
Ray Orb, the president of SARM, said they have a variety of issues to discuss with their members this week.
They hope to get some answers from the federal government on issues rural municipalities could be facing.
The issues include speaking with Canada’s minister of public safety, Ralph Goodale, about cannabis policies and RCMP staffing.
“We believe there is always a need for more RCMP officers,” he said. “In Saskatchewan, some detachments have shortages of officers.”
The minister of rural economic development, Bernadette Jordan, is already in Saskatoon ahead of SARM.
She said connectivity is a problem in parts of rural Saskatchewan and wants to see further development.
“Access to broadband in rural areas, access to cell phone coverage,” she said.
“Those are real barriers in 2019. If you can’t get your product to market, it’s huge. We know how hard it is for rural communities that don’t have high speeds.”
Another main concern is the canola conflict between Canada and China.
Orb said they will be pressing Jim Carr, the minister of international trade and diversification, on the issue.
“To our farmers in Saskatchewan, a loss of any kind of sales for a crop like canola is going to hurt their bottom line,” he said. “We’re really concerned that the federal government needs to deal with this issue sooner rather than later.”
The newly appointed Canadian minister of agriculture, Marie Claude Bibeau, is not available to attend SARM as she will be conducting her first agricultural tour in B.C., Alberta and Manitoba.