Senator Pamela Wallin always struck me as the down-to-earth Wadena girl that she appeared to be.
It was nice have those suspicions confirmed when my colleagues long-time rural municipality administrator Jim Angus, former Regina city manager Bob Linner, successful businesswoman Holly Heatherington and I got to work with Wallin on this year's Saskatchewan Municipal Awards.
But it was something that Wallin said at this year's award's SMA luncheon that was most gratifying. Wallin observed that this year's winners of the 4th annual SMA awards seemed to perfectly capture the spirit of Saskatchewan.
She was right. The 2010 winners do represent what's best about our province.For example, in the regional leadership and partnership category, the winner was no less than 47 municipalities from the Region Authority of Carlton Trail (REACT) that somehow managed to set aside local rivalries and squabbles to establish an innovative waste management and recycling program. REACT clearly demonstrated the finest Saskatchewan tradition of co-operating with one's neighbour.
As deserving, however, was the runner-up from North Battleford who worked with the Justice Ministry to establish a 10-bed youth treatment facility _ the first of its kind the province's northwest. Clearly, this was the Saskatchewan way of identifying a need and building it your self.
In a similar vein, kudos to the southern RMs of Hart Butte, Poplar Valley, Willow Bunch, Old Post and Stonehenge and the towns of Coronach and Rockglen as this year's SMA winner of the economic development award. The seven municipalities got together in 2005 to purchase and run the discontinued CP Rail line to the Fife Lake subdivision. This not only demonstrated Saskatchewan's co-operation approach to addressing a need but also its entrepreneurial nature.
Kudos also to the runner-up in this category, the City of Melfort, for its major $40 million, 400-job Stonegate Commercial Development. Identifying the need and to grow and coming through with viable plan to prosper has always been a big part of the Saskatchewan success story.
Sometimes lost on provincial residents is how critical immigration was to development of this province. Saskatchewan's welcoming spirit was a critical theme to the City of Saskatoon's immigration initiative _ a program aimed at retaining new arrivals to the country _ winning the SMA's community development leadership,
This year's runner-up in the category was the City of Yorkton for an its "Yorkton alliance of Asset Champions" program that sees that city work with several youth-oriented groups, businesses and the RCMP to hand out "positive tickets" to teenagers demonstrating good behaviour. For decades, our best export has been our youth nationwide for their work ethic and strong sense of community. Such a program only reinforces what's good about this province.
Another great thing that's allowed Saskatchewan to the survive and thrive is our envi-ronmental stewardship and the SMA winner in this category was the RM of Canwood and Villages of Debden and Canwood for responding to the BSE outbreak with the first only facility to deposit hazardous waste BSE materials. Is there any characteristic more "Saskatchewan" than taking a tough circumstance and making something positive out of it?Similarly, the runner-up in the environmental category, the RM of Corman Park, took a tough problem with residential septic waste and development a smart strategy to address both waste and ground water concerns.
Evidently, a lot of these communities have learned from their own history. But no community can lay greater claim for doing so than the Town of Ogema _this year's winner of SMA's Heritage Conservation Leadership award for the communities 30 years of conserving heritage buildings and artifacts. Also demonstrating pride in their community and the province's history was the Town of Kerrobert for its municipal office restoration project.
As Senator Wallin put it, this was truly the Saskatchewan spirit on display at this year's SMA awards.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 15 years.
