The 110th annual Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention officially got underway in Saskatoon on Monday.
The three-day event provides elected leaders from across the province the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss the issues affecting their communities.
The convention opened with an address from SUMA President Debra Button followed by Federation of Canadian Municipalities President Brad Woodside.
Premier Brad Wall will speak just before lunch.
The Northern Regional Meeting is set to take place in the afternoon.
With a tight provincial budget expected in the spring as the result of plummeting oil revenues, municipal leaders will be watching the Premier’s speech closely.
In particular, municipal revenue sharing is expected to dominate this year’s convention discussions.
Out of the 11 resolutions that will be debated and discussed, two in particular are of interest to northern Saskatchewan.
One resolution, put forward by the City of North Battleford, calls on all municipalities to lobby the federal government to call a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
The other, put forward by SUMA’s board of directors, calls on the organization to lobby the provincial government to fully implement the Northern Highway Strategy as a way of improving northern roads.
The keynote speaker at the 2015 convention is Toronto Star political journalist Chantal Hebert.
The theme of this year’s event is The Urban Heartbeat.
The SUMA convention wraps up on Wednesday with a bear pit session with the provincial cabinet.