For weeks, Municipal Affairs has taken you inside the conversations, ideas, and debates that shaped the 2026 SUMA Convention in Regina. But today, we turn the page. The convention may be over, but the work is only beginning. Over three days in Regina, municipal leaders from communities across Saskatchewan came together to tackle the shared challenges facing urban municipalities — from infrastructure and housing to advocacy and growth. Now, with delegates back home and the SUM

New Brunswick voters have spoken. On Monday night, residents across the province headed to the polls to choose the leaders who will shape their communities for the next four years — electing representatives in nearly all of New Brunswick’s 77 municipalities, 12 rural districts, and district education councils. And the results delivered both continuity and change. In Fredericton, longtime city councillor Steve Hicks will take over the mayor’s chair. Saint John voters returned

On May 1st, I had the opportunity to stand in front of a room full of municipal leaders at the 2026 Manitoba Municipal Administrators Association Leadership Summit in Brandon, Manitoba. It was a moment that felt both grounding and urgent—because the conversations happening in that room are the same ones unfolding in communities across the country. Municipal leaders today are operating in an environment that is more complex, more visible, and more demanding than ever before. E

On May 1st, I found myself in Brandon, Manitoba, joining municipal leaders from across the province at the 2026 Manitoba Municipal Administrators Association Leadership Summit. It’s one of those gatherings where the conversations feel especially real—because the challenges being discussed aren’t theoretical. They’re happening right now, in council chambers, in community halls, and increasingly, online. Municipal leadership today is not what it was even five years ago. The pac

We’re diving into a piece of legislation that could reshape the relationship between Alberta’s municipalities, homeowners, and the province itself: Bill 28. Framed by the government as a move toward fairness, consistency, and efficiency, this bill touches on some of the most sensitive pressure points in local governance — how communities are run, how development happens, and, perhaps most importantly, how property is taxed. At the heart of the conversation is a promise to sta

There’s a quiet truth that echoes in council chambers from coast to coast: when it comes to stable, predictable municipal funding, not all systems are created equal. In fact, ask almost any municipal leader across Canada, and you’ll hear the same thing—if their province followed Saskatchewan’s lead, their communities would be on much stronger footing. Because in Saskatchewan, they built something different. Something durable. Something that, nearly two decades later, is still

Seven months ago, we brought you the concerns of Mayor Lyle Herman of La Loche, who travelled to Ottawa to sound the alarm on a growing crisis in northern Saskatchewan. At the time, he described a region stretched thin—where limited RCMP resources, rising crime, housing shortages, and gaps in mental health and addictions services were putting entire communities at risk. Today, we return to that story with a simple but critical question: has anything changed? In communities li

Watson Lake is the kind of place you can miss with a blink if you’re in too much of a hurry to get somewhere else. That would be a mistake. Because in Watson Lake, every sign has a story, and every story means something. For those who have never travelled the Alaska Highway — and yes, I know some people still call parts of it Highway 97 or Highway 1 depending on where they are standing — I would highly recommend it. Not because it is flashy. Not because every kilometre has so

Today, we’re crossing a border—but not to highlight what divides us. Instead, we’re taking a closer look at what connects communities on both sides of the 49th parallel. Municipalities in Canada and the United States share more than geography. From managing growth and infrastructure, to responding to economic uncertainty and housing pressures, local governments are often on the front lines of the same challenges. Yet, the systems they operate within—their powers, funding mode