A rendering of what the Prince Albert Events Centre would look like if it is built. (P.A. Council agenda)

By Susan McNeil

SUMA plans

City prepped for SUMA convention, event centre part of the plan

Apr 12, 2024 | 5:00 PM

Saskatchewan’s Urban Municipalities will be hosting their annual convention starting Sunday evening and will include a full delegation from the City of Prince Albert.

Mayor Greg Dionne said that they have booked times with the ministry that oversees SGI and will also be looking to discuss funding for the event centre – the second phase of The Yard District – with Municipal Affairs.

“I will be meeting with two ministers to discuss the funding model for the new rink and we will be meeting with SGI to talk about their funding programs,” he said.

For the rink funding, the city knows that the money is usually shared three ways between all levels of government but the money flows through the province.

READ MORE: The city finalized the plans for the event centre in March

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“Any money that we get from the federal government has to go through the province. That’s how it works. So, we’re meeting with the province because we are approaching the federal government to, again, for a donation towards our facility like they did last time,” he said.

For the last funding the city got, the feds bumped up their portion which gave the city a discount and Dionne is hopeful they will do that again.

SGI gives the city $50,000 every year for school and traffic initiatives and that has been doubled to $100,000, Dionne explained.

City officials will also talk to the Ministry of Highways regarding a plan to re-pave 2nd Avenue in Prince Albert.

The project was announced several months ago so the city will just be looking to continue the positive progress, the mayor said.

Dionne said the ability to connect with other delegates and meet with provincial ministries at the convention is invaluable and Prince Albert likes to follow up later to make sure their discussion points are kept in mind.

“There’s 900 people there. You can’t be expected to be front and center Prince Albert. But what we do is we, we figure out what we need and then we direct action teams towards those needs,” he said.

Outside of the city’s wish list, SUMA delegates will be voting on how the head of the organization is chosen.

Until this year, the president has been elected directly by the delegates every year but this year it has been proposed that the 15-member executive choose the president, a change Dionne does not support.

“It becomes more of a popularity contest and they only represent those 15 in my opinion, where when we’re all together and there’s a thousand of us there, why would we not be voting for the President,” he said.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com