Education, crop insurance, ‘Queen of Canada’ discussed at SARM convention

Premier Scott Moe and his cabinet faced questions from RMs during Thursday’s “bear pit” session at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities’ annual convention in Regina.

There was a mixed tone throughout the event, with some representatives grilling Moe and his cabinet, and others praising them.

The questions covered education, crop insurance, rural health, rural crime and even issues caused by a group often referred to as a “cult.”

The bargaining impasse with teachers continues, and Moe explained why his government rejected an offer by the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) to go to binding arbitration over classroom size and complexity – the biggest points of contention since talks first started.

“Binding arbitration is not a consideration that the government’s looking at at this point in time,” said Moe.

“What we would like and would ask is that the STF return to the table and let’s find a resolution to this.”

Moe said the STF and provincial government both want to see the situation in classrooms improve.

“We’re trying to provide as much funding as we can in a system where Saskatchewan people are already investing more per capita than any other people in any other province across the nation,” he said.

“We’re trying to balance that investment with the very real needs that we know are necessary in our classrooms to support not only our teachers, but to support our students in receiving the education that we all want them to aspire to.”

Moe said the province would not remove the autonomy that local school divisions have when it comes to allocating funds as they see fit.

The premier also touted the $356.6-million agreement the government signed with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) last week.

Moe was asked whether school boards had enough time to consider the agreement before signing. The premier said he didn’t know what type of communication happened between the association and school board chairs.

“But I would say that this is an investment that has been asked for largely by school divisions, and it’s being provided by this government and will be confirmed in the budget that will be coming forth with next week,” Moe said.

Ray Orb, President of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, at the group’s 2024 convention. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

‘Queen of Canada’ still causing issues

“We have a cult in our community,” said Mario Koch, reeve of the RM of Enterprise.

Koch was referring to the continued presence of “Canadian QAnon figure” Romana Didulo and her followers. Didulo is the self-proclaimed “Queen of Canada,” and Koch said her group is still causing problems.

“We’re kind of running into a situation where we can’t do anything about them because there’s too much red tape,” Koch said.

Koch said he hoped the federal and provincial governments could do something about the group, but he said they’re not going away.

Paul Merriman, minister of corrections, policing and public safety, said it’s a tricky and unique situation.

He said RCMP has had a mobile detachment and extra enforcement in the area, and police are working closely with the community.

“This is a very unique situation and we would like to have it resolved,” Merriman said.

“The challenge is, until an individual actually breaks the law we can’t charge them with anything, and that’s kind of in that in-between area. And as much as this group is living in that area, they’re very cautious in making sure that they’re not breaking any specific laws.”

Merriman told Koch to contact RCMP if the group does break the law.

Crop insurance criticized

Don Tremblay, reeve of Hillsborough accused the province of “moving the goalposts” on crop insurance.

“I was at the convention last year and I told them – they’re not going to like this – you’ve ruined that program. You really have,” Tremblay said.

“I’ve got guys with premiums of up to $70 an acre for under $400 of coverage. Under the old system, that would have never happened.”

Tremblay said it used to be a true insurance system, but that’s no longer the case.

Agriculture minister David Marit compared the program to other forms of insurance coverage.

“Obviously we have seen a significant increase in premiums, but we’ve also seen a significant increase in the coverage,” said Marit.