Saskatchewan’s rural and urban areas are divided into municipalities, and each municipality has its own head. There are 296 rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, easily the largest number for any province in Canada.

According to recent census data from Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan has 950 distinct census subdivisions. A census subdivision is any area treated as a municipality for statistical purposes, including everything from cities to rural municipalities.

That means Saskatchewan has the highest number of census subdivisions per capita of any province in the country, at a rate of 86.5 per 100,000 people. By comparison, Ontario has just over four census subdivisions per capita. Saskatchewan has a lot fewer people, and a lot more places to take care of.

The rural population once dwarfed the urban population in Saskatchewan. Now, those percentages have shifted drastically.

Meyer said that when families leave the smallest rural centres it can be hard to attract them to a different rural centre over urban hubs.

“I think there’s a concern… As those small communities start dying those people are going somewhere,” Meyer said. “The question is where. Are the they going to the next large rural community, or are they heading to the big city?”

As Meyer puts it, it can be a daunting task to make sure all the municipalities have a plan for the future.

“We’re struggling right now with having enough administrators out there to administer these 296 (municipalities),” he said. “Never mind recruiting them all to three and a half hours away from … Regina or Saskatoon.”

According to Olfert, it’s those lower classification communities that can’t hope to sustain themselves into the future.

“Ultimately, unless those basic trends of population loss and change in the nature of the functions and services … somehow change, you know, the writing is on the wall,” Olfert said.

“Just getting access to mechanics and labour … the distances and the times involved, that’s a concern,” Greuel said. “Getting access to labour in rural areas, that is becoming a bit of a constraint.”

Greuel said that access and retention of labour for farms has been identified as a “potential impediment of future growth,” but that the Ministry of Agriculture doesn’t take dwindling populations into consideration.

“We’re more concerned about the competitiveness of the sector, and growing,” Greuel said, adding that population questions fall to other government ministries.

“Collaboration and working together is number one. You have to start sharing some resources,” Meyer said.

Communities lose the capacity to sustain the number of different services they once did after the population drops below a certain level. Towns like Scotsguard and Crichton all once played homeservices like to shops, train stations, post offices – all the trappings of a sustainable community.

“You lose your car dealership, you lose twenty-five people – that’s staff,” Meyer said. “Well, times that by two or maybe three because you have … [spouses] and you have kids that are leaving, and that affects the high schools or the elementary schools.”

“It kind of spirals all the way down.”

In theory, there should be more than enough communities for rural Saskatchewan to create an effective sharing strategy, they said. Statistics Canada lists the province as having 258 villages in addition to the 296 rural municipalities, meaning there are many population centres scattered throughout the province.

But as Meyer puts it, finding the most effective way for municipalities to organize themselves isn’t a simple task. With limited finances and results expected quickly enough to impact the next election, the reeves of Saskatchewan’s rural municipalities can sometimes struggle to think long-term.

“Give more money… and they can build a lagoon or a lift station or a road or a bridge,” he said. “But I mean we need to start looking … five, 10 years down the line.”

That reality is reflected in the numbers. According to Statistics Canada, 12 municipalities in Saskatchewan have dissolved since the last census in 2011.

Because of the lack of training and understanding for how to best spend money on development, many communities don’t do a lot of future planning. Meyer said it’s something his association tries to push home for the reeves of rural municipalities. But with 296 of them to consider, and an elected reeve in charge of each, there’s a lot of different administrators with a lot of different opinions.

Some of those reeves don’t have a large population base to take care of. The largest rural municipality, Corman Park No. 344, has a population of 8,568, but surrounds the major hub of Saskatoon.

And Glen McPherson No. 46, the smallest rural municipality in terms of population, is home to only 72 people. But being in the southernmost reaches of the province, it’s far more isolated.

The concept of amalgamation – bringing together multiple rural municipalities into fewer, larger municipalities – has been discussed as an option for decades. Economists like Olfert say it’s the best way to ensure the survival of rural communities. But many of those living in those municipalities don’t like the idea of amalgamation.

“It’s like anything – it’s how it’s communicated, how is it done, is there incentive involved in it,” Meyer said. “But it almost has to be (the municipalities’) idea.”

An emailed statement from the Government of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Government Relations said there are “no plans to force restructuring in the province,” and said local authorities have the best understanding of whether amalgamation is the right step.

If the same legislation were applied in Saskatchewan, it would force 259 out of 296 rural municipalities to amalgamate.

“I’m not saying that we’re going to get forced into it,” Meyer said. “What I’m saying is before we do, we should maybe come up with some strategies ourselves.”

Meyer and Reimer both agree there is some concern with communities dwindling in the prairies, but insist the small rural settlements can thrive. They just need to have a plan.

“I would venture to guess if I went back today and looked at the population, the communities that had the will probably maintain theirs and the ones that didn’t have the will probably declined,” Reimer said.

Reimer also identified broadband connectivity as a key issue to help keep rural communities connected to the urban world and each other. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission declared broadband internet to be a “basic telecommunications service” in 2016, which many speculated would pave the way for better internet access in rural communities across the country.

But quality internet connectivity is still a luxury in a lot of small rural communities, Reimer said. And that can impact quality of life – and the ability to attract anyone to more remote areas.

“If you don’t have that accessibility it’s going to be hard to recruit professionals … or even start up small businesses in small towns,” Meyer said. “Not everybody has that accessibility to internet to do a transfer … or pay their bills online.”

Between the revenue sharing program and the government’s stance on amalgamation, it seems the province is willing to let rural Saskatchewan succeed or fail on its own merits – a prospect Meyer believes most municipalities would be fine accepting.

“I think we’re pushing for strong governance,” Meyer said. “The provincial government … on one hand, municipalities don’t want them involved. But then in the meantime, when things aren’t good, they want them involved.”

Olfert doesn’t share the association’s optimism, calling the gradual shutdown of services and changes in the communities “symptoms” of an irreversible decline.

“Ultimately, if those underlying factors continue it’s going to go,” she said. “You can slow it down a bit, but I think it’s just what people do.”

“You can’t hold back the tide.”

Chapter 5: No more Romance