Saskatoon Minute: Issue 111

Saskatoon Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Saskatoon politics

📅 This Week In Saskatoon: 📅

• We're hosting a Pints & Politics event in conjunction with our friends at the Saskatchewan Institute! We'll be joined by Richard Jankowski, author of March Forth - a bold call to action for Saskatchewan and Canada at a pivotal economic moment. The book presents a clear vision of a more diversified, competitive, and confident Saskatchewan by 2040. Saskatchewan Institute Project Director Heidi McKillop will be hosting a discussion with Richard about the book and about Saskatchewan's future. There will be plenty of time for networking, drinks, and conversation, too! The event takes place on Tuesday, May 12th. It’s free, but you’ll need to RSVP here.
  
  
• On Wednesday, at 9:30 am, there will be a meeting of the Governance and Priorities Committee. Administration will present the final progress report on the City's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. The report covers four years of performance across seven strategic goals and shows mixed results: fire calls meeting the national fire service response standard declined to 64.8%, and transit ridership fell 6.8% to 12.3 million trips in 2025 - both areas identified for continued focus under the new 2026-2029 Strategic Plan. On the financial side, Saskatoon maintained its AAA credit rating for the 24th consecutive year, with property taxes and debt levels remaining among the lowest of major prairie cities. The City delivered 220 attainable housing units through federal housing incentives, exceeding its 150-unit target, and civic satisfaction rebounded to 80% - up 5 points from the prior year. Land sales of $96.9 million surpassed their target, and business licence turnaround improved to 95%. One initiative - the COLT Project - remains on hold pending a future funding decision.
  
  
• Also on Wednesday's agenda is an update on the City's Coordinated Community Safety Program, which coordinates the Saskatoon Police Service, Saskatoon Fire Department, private security, and service providers at sites connected to homelessness services. Four formal safety plans are now active, covering the Pacific Avenue Temporary Shelter, the Avenue C drop-in location, encampments in Pleasant Hill and Riversdale, and the area around 3rd Avenue and 23rd Street. Weekly usage at some drop-in facilities began to double between February and March 2026 and continues to rise, with over 1,000 individuals accessing certain facilities over the winter season and nightly attendance consistently exceeding planned averages. The Riversdale Business Improvement District and nearby businesses have raised concerns about conditions near the Avenue C location. Administration describes the program as working as intended but acknowledges resources are "increasingly strained" as demand grows. A formal report on resourcing options will not come before Council until the adjusted budget meeting on November 24th, 2026.
  
  
• Saskatoon's fire department responded to a record 680 overdoses in April 2026 - more than four times the 165 calls recorded in March. On a single day in early May, crews received 80 overdose calls in 24 hours, averaging more than three calls per hour. The surge closely follows the April 9th closure of Prairie Harm Reduction's supervised drug consumption site, which dispersed overdose activity more broadly across the city rather than concentrating it in one location. Jay Protz, president of International Association of Firefighters Local 80, described his members as "exasperated" by the scale and pace of calls, noting the difficulty of responding repeatedly to the same individuals and locations. The union is calling on all levels of government to act, requesting enhanced mental health resources, additional firefighter staffing, decompression time for personnel, and expanded addiction support services. Administration's own community safety update to the Governance and Priorities Committee this week also notes a "sharp rise" in patrol and incident volumes related to social disorder - consistent with what firefighters have reported on the ground.
  
  
• Businesses in west Saskatoon are working to establish the city's sixth Business Improvement District, covering the area around Confederation Park and 22nd Street West. Safety concerns have driven the effort: a provincial homeless shelter opened within the proposed boundaries in 2022, and the April closure of Prairie Harm Reduction's supervised drug consumption site on 20th Street West renewed attention on the neighbourhood's challenges. To establish the district, organizers must submit a petition signed by more than half of the business owners in the area, who together must represent more than half of the area's taxable assessment. If approved, all businesses in the new district's area would be required to join the District and pay an annual levy to the new organization.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

This week's sponsor is you! We don't have big corporate backers, so if you like what you're reading, please consider making a donation or signing up as a monthly member.

Having said that, if you are a local business and are interested in being a sponsor, send us an email and we'll talk!