For all the talk about the "new Saskatchewan", it seems an awfully lot like the "old Saskatchewan".
In the "old Saskatchewan", communities didn't always have the money to fix all their problems.
Moreover, there are a lot of problems that just can't be fixed with money.
But this has always been a place about taking charge of your problems and finding creative ways to deal with them.
And nowhere is this more evident than the winners of the recent annual Saskatchewan Municipal Awards.
For the fifth year since the SMA's inception in 2007, I had the pleasure of joining long-time rural administrator Jim Angus, former City of Regina manager Bob Linner and businesswoman Holly Hetherington on the selection committee. And again this year, we were honoured by Conservative senator and former journalist Pamela Wallin joining the panel.
As judges, we saw an emerging theme of communities taking charge of their problems and finding unique ways to address them.
Perhaps the best example of this was in the Municipal Innovation and Service Excellence Award that was won by the Village of Hazlet for its innovative solution to rising power costs and subsequent higher ice fees at its rink. Hazlet installed an artificial ice plant powered by a wind turbine - a first of its kind in Canada that required hundreds of hours of volunteer time and ample innovation.
The other finalist in this category was the RMs of Arborfield, Bjorkdale, Connaught, Hudson Bay, Kelvington, Nipawin, Porcupine, Preeceville and Torch River known as the North East Quadrant. The RMs worked co-operatively to restructure and renovate the rural bridge system in the area. Again, this was a clear case of local people taking charge of a problem.
Similarly, the Regional Leadership and Partnerships Award went to the towns of Rosthern, Hague and Waldheim and the RMs of Duck Lake, Rosthern, Laird and villages of Hepburn and Laird for developing living quarters for nursing, medical and lab technology students in the old Rosthern post office. The project came at the request of a local doctor - another fine example of communities addressing a problem themselves.
The other finalist in this category - the RMs of Estevan, Benson, Cymri, Coalfields and Cambria - took a similar take-charge approach to save Creighton Lodge. The 50-year-old Housing Complex providing affordable Level 1 and 2 care was in the process of being closed by the Sun Country Health District.
In the Environmental Stewardship category, the amazing Hazlet project was runner up the town and RM of Dundurn, and the resort village of Thode and Shields for a unique joint sanitary sewer system project that clearly met a critical local need.
While many communities complain about the problems with their youth, few come up with creative solutions to address the problem. Or at least, few have come up with solutions as creative as Kindersley that won the SMA's Community Development Leadership award for creating a youth council that exposed teenagers to municipal government and allowed them to address their issues themselves.
Almost as deserving was the runner-up in this category, the small resort village of Island View that developed a no-nonsense municipal land-use policy that paved the way to the removal of illegal developments that had grown over the years.
Finally in the Heritage Conservation Leadership category, hats of to City of Humboldt whose museum board identified heritage issues and came up with one most thorough heritage plans you will see. The other finalist for this award was another project all about taking charge of a communities needs. The Town of Gravelbourg's Renaissance Gaiety Theatre restoration projection has turned a heritage property into the culture centre of the community.
Whether it's the new or old Saskatchewan, this province is still about taking responsibility for your community's needs and dealing with them.
Or so this year's municipal awards would seem to indicate.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 15 years.
