By Thia James

VIDEO: Dionne to skip mayors’ meeting, pokes fun at Saskatoon mayor’s weight

Jan 30, 2015 | 5:26 AM

Mayor Greg Dionne will not be attending the mayors’ caucus at this year’s Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) convention in Saskatoon next week.

Prince Albert’s mayor made this announcement during his third State of the City address on Thursday, and in the midst of it, took a jab at Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison, criticizing his weight, as he took a swipe at the Bridge City’s push for its new commuter bridges.

On top of announcing that he’d seek a second term as mayor, Dionne said he won’t attend the mayors’ caucus because he disagreed with the other mayors’ general stance that the provincial transfer amounts should not be frozen. The transfers are taken from a portion of the PST generated during the year.

Dionne said the other cities should put off their big infrastructure projects, then pointed to the new North Commuter Bridge project in Saskatoon that the province committed funding to.

“You got nine other bridges, you can wait a couple more years, you whined about these ones for the last couple, that’s why the river level came up. But you know, you can walk a little and maybe the mayor there will lose some weight, if he didn’t have to walk out of his office. That’s why he’s heavier than me, because he walks out of his office 10 feet and he’s on a bridge,” Dionne said, drawing laughter and collective groans from the audience of about 350 in the Ches Leach Lounge.

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The Mayor of Saskatoon’s office responded later on Thursday, saying that city’s mayor does not comment on other mayor’s speeches.

Atchison’s communications manager Richard Brown said their mayor is also aware that Dionne would be running for another term.

“So, Mayor Atchison, of course, wishes him well and wish the people of Prince Albert well.”

Dionne’s move to not attend the mayors’ caucus comes as the province looks at all of its belt-tightening options ahead of this year’s budget.

The province is facing reduced oil royalties – on top of lowered potash royalties – and is now considering all of its options, including the possibility of capping or freezing the provincial transfer amounts it gives to cities. The cities are free to then use the money for any project they wish, including infrastructure projects.

The province has not made a final decision with regards to the transfers.

In his speech, Dionne said the province will have to make cuts, and stood firmly in his disagreement with the other mayors’ stance. He said he hopes the other city mayors “think about the people” and what they can do without for the next few years – and said “well, let’s put all of our mega projects on hold.”

On Thursday, he also notified the vice-president of cities that he was taking a leave from the caucus.

Additionally, after the address, Dionne alluded to the unproductivity of the mayors’ caucus meetings.

“And I’m not going to spend the city’s taxpayers’ money for me to go stay in a hotel and eat well and come home with nothing to share,” he said.

Dionne’s announcement led Prince Albert Carlton MLA Darryl Hickie to say that Dionne will have to explain himself to SUMA. Hickie, the one-time minister responsible for SUMA, said he sees that Dionne is making a stance that the mayor thinks is morally correct.

“Because, if they have a group collective that’s asking for one thing from the government, it’s a stakeholder group, like every other stakeholder group is, they come as a group to ask for something, to protect something. I think as the mayor to … step away from that at this time, may or may not be good. We’ll have to see what the outcome is after SUMA.”

He was in attendance alongside fellow Sask. Party MLAs Victoria Jurgens, for Prince Albert Northcote, and MLA Nadine Wilson, for Saskatchewan Rivers, who echoed his sentiments.

And the issue of taking the heat was on the mayor’s mind as well.

The mayor, who began this year’s address with “commercials” praising the clothier that sold him the suit he wore, also had advice for other members of council in Prince Albert.

Dionne told them to “take the heat” from the public, saying that the public looks at the mayor when they disagree with decisions made at City Hall.

“I take the most heat in this room. Because at the end of the day, it wasn’t council that did it, it was the mayor,” Dionne said.

He said that once a vote happens at council, whether “you agree with it or not, you have to sell it, you have to support it, you have to be out there and be the cheerleader.”

This year’s SUMA convention will be held in Saskatoon from Feb. 1 to Feb. 4.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames