Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, on behalf of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, I wish to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Finance for allowing SARM the opportunity to appear before you this morning. We really appreciate it. Perhaps the most

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, I don't know if that's it for the questions, or if we're getting down to closing remarks, but as far as my closing comments to the committee are concerned, first of all, I really want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the committee, for hearing us here today and for unde

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks for the question. I guess as far as examples are concerned, we as an organization have asked right across Canada for examples. What we got back from quite a few, and even in our own province.... I actually spoke to the Institution of Civil Engine

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Shipley, thank you for that question. We really see it in Saskatchewan, because agriculture has just taken on a whole new meaning. The farms are getting larger, and what we call local roads aren't really being used much anymore, other than by a piece

Transport committee  Right.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  We've been told that quite a bit already in the last few days.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  We felt we had to have the draft in there because, if you have that draft, to us that meant that water is flowing more than three months of the year. That's why we came up with that. We even wanted to put a width in there. We really felt there should have been a width in there to

Transport committee  I guess I'll comment. I don't know offhand what the number is as far as rejections go, but I think the number as far as delays are concerned would be significant, especially when it comes to the process when you're dealing with navigable waters. In a lot of cases we're dealing

Transport committee  To me, the NWPA is more of a navigational issue, and I think if the committee can make a recommendation on that definition similar to what we have made here today to you on the definition of that waterway, it'll go a long way toward making things a lot easier to do in rural Canad

Transport committee  Mr. Chairman, just to add to that, it's not that we've ever said that navigable waters doesn't have a role to play. We've never ever said that. Our discussion, for the sake of argument, is where do they have that role to play? Do they have a role to play on a stream that only flo

Transport committee  They did have to put signs upstream and downstream to let them know.

Transport committee  That's right.

Transport committee  At this time I don't know of any, but I'm sure they are there. I'll give the example of what's happening in the northeast part of Saskatchewan right now. We have a lot of bridges that have been taken out due to flooding. Those municipalities don't have the resources to replace