Saskatoon Minute: Issue 128

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

📅 This Week In Saskatoon: 📅

• The Governance and Priorities Committee will receive a report on Wednesday examining whether the City should adopt a community benefits framework, including for the $1.2-billion Downtown Event and Entertainment District. Community benefits frameworks require developers or contractors to deliver added benefits such as local hiring targets, subcontracting to local or Indigenous businesses, or affordable housing. The report from the City Solicitor's Office recommends against creating a broad framework at this time, warning it could add cost and administrative burden to projects, reduce the number of bidders, and be difficult to enforce. It notes that Saskatchewan's planning legislation does not permit the community benefit charges allowed in provinces like Ontario, and that trade agreements limit targeted local procurement, citing a 2021 arbitration that found a Saskatchewan hiring provision breached the Canada Free Trade Agreement. Administration says the City has faced rapidly escalating infrastructure costs and has no budget for the work, but adds that its current talks with Muskeg Lake Cree Nation over the downtown district could deliver community benefits through that partnership. The information is set to be received rather than voted on.
  
  
• Ward 9 Councillor Bev Dubois will also bring a motion to the Committee on Wednesday at 9:30 am, directing Administration to report back on options to regulate the delivery of graphic flyers to Saskatoon homes. Dubois says she received numerous complaints after flyers depicting aborted fetuses were delivered to some residents during the week of August 10th, and notes the City currently has no regulation covering flyers of this nature. The motion is one item on the Committee's agenda, and it follows a petition from the Saskatoon Abortion Support Network signed by more than 2,800 people. The network is calling for a bylaw that would prohibit displaying such images in public, require that they be distributed only in sealed and labelled envelopes identifying the sender, and set escalating fines for offenders. It argues that freedom of expression is not unlimited and that public display of the images subjects a captive audience to them, while acknowledging residents' right to protest. If the motion passes, Administration would study the options and any bylaw would return to Council later.
  
  
• A new Saskatoon Transit bylaw took effect on September 1st, setting enforceable rules for conduct on buses and transit property. Approved by Council in late July, it requires riders to pay their fare and bars smoking, vaping, and alcohol and drug use, and it authorizes Saskatoon police and transit supervisors to remove people, impose temporary bans, and issue $50 tickets. The City says the emphasis is on education and compliance, with enforcement available when needed. Officials point to a steep rise in fare evasion, which they say more than tripled to 131,532 recorded incidents in 2024 from 41,923 in 2023, costing an estimated $394,596 in lost revenue that year. Riders may now be asked to show proof of payment, and supervisors and officers will carry handheld scanners to check fares.
  
  
• The federal government has announced $11.6 million to help Saskatoon businesses cope with US tariffs. The money, delivered through Prairies Economic Development Canada's tariff response program, will back 10 projects at eight Saskatoon organizations aimed at expanding production, modernizing operations, and reaching new markets. The largest awards go to Drake Meat Processors, which will receive $3.2 million to expand and automate its production lines, and Doepker Industries, which will get about $2.7 million for new equipment and software. RMD Engineering is set to receive $1 million, with further funding for Biktrix Enterprises, Croatia Industries, Great Western Brewing Company, Superior Millwork, and Tritana Holdings. Ottawa says the projects are expected to support more than 137 jobs and are part of a broader $7.5-billion national package for businesses and workers hit by the tariffs.
  
  
• Saskatoon is on track to meet a federal deadline requiring 733 new affordable housing units to be confirmed by the end of 2026, City officials told a Council committee. The units are tied to the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, which gave the City $41.3 million in 2024 to remove barriers to homebuilding, and 479 have been confirmed since July. To help close the gap, the committee reviewed five-year property tax abatements for nine projects, worth about $1.65 million, that would add roughly 1,042 market and affordable units. Sarah King, the City's housing and homelessness manager, said that even with those approvals the City would still need 88 more affordable units greenlit before year-end. Properties receiving only the tax break must stay affordable, meaning rent at or below 30% of a tenant's income, for 10 years, while those also getting capital grants must remain affordable for 20 years. 

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