By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
Six local leaders from every level of government took questions from business-owners about issues pertaining to Warman, Martensville and surrounding communities at the annual ‘Lunch with Leaders’ event on January 16.
This annual event was hosted at the Martensville Recreation Centre (MRC) by the Prairie Sky Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit organization that was formed from the amalgamation of the Warman and Martensville chambers in 2017.
Angela Steiert, executive director of the Prairie Sky Chamber of Commerce, said they had 65 people registered for this year’s event, including a blend of business-owners from Warman and Martensville, entrepreneurs from Osler, municipal staff from both cities and trustees with the Prairie Spirit School Division.
“It was a good mixture of individuals at the table and people who are listening to the conversation and taking notes,” said Steiert.
After the meal part of the luncheon, the event mostly consisted of a question-and-answer session with the six attending political representatives: Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek MP Kelly Block, Warman MLA Terry Jenson, Martensville-Blairmore MLA Jamie Martens, Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk, RM of Corman Park Reeve Joe Hargrave and Martensville Mayor Kent Muench.
Jaycee Turtle, a member of the Prairie Sky board and branch manager with Lakeview Insurance Brokers in Martensville, said a few questions from the crowd touched on red tape at the inter-provincial level and federal level.
Steiert said there were also some questions about the future of development in the two cities and the RM of Corman Park, specifically about where businesses can expand.
She said the discussion was mostly about how the Saskatoon Partnership for Growth (P4G) is working together.
“A lot of their answers touched on how they are collaborating, essentially, to plan and support the business region for growth in the future,” Turtle said.
The subject of taxation and tax incentives also arose during the luncheon.
Steiert said Muench emphasized how municipal governments aren’t developers or landowners, so when a tax incentive is given to a developer, it is on them to pass those savings on to the businesses leasing from them.
“Sometimes it’s out of the city’s control when they are looking at some kind of tax incentive, which I thought was very relevant, because as a business-owner you might think, ‘Oh, I’m not getting any tax breaks,’” Turtle said.
Turtle and Steiert indicated the MLAs also talked about the huge infrastructure investments being made at the provincial level and made the correlation between those projects and the amount of tax revenue needed to fund them, pointing out that highway projects can hit the tens of millions.
Turtle said she liked how all of the leaders emphasized together how it’s not their job as elected officials to start certain businesses in an area.
“It’s their job to create the environment for success for business. So the infrastructure is there, the customer base is there, and the workforce is there,” Turtle added.
When asked if the U.S. tariffs came up in the discussion, Turtle indicated they did not, but the MP alluded to how different that landscape looks compared to last year.
Turtle said Block also stressed how, as a Conservative MLA, she is a member of the Official Opposition. Thus, she does all she can to advocate for the region, but her party is not the one in power.
“She’s here to advocate as much as she can and connect people in any way she can help. But her government is not the one making the decisions putting us in the place that we are right now,” Turtle said.
Generally, Steiert said her biggest takeaway from the event was all six of the local leaders saying they only learn about specific issues if people in the area bring those issues to their attention.
Jenson himself noted that as a business-owner, you want people coming through your doors, Steiert said. And that’s basically the same thing with an MLA or another government representative: they want people coming to them with their ideas and concerns.
“The idea of collaborating and communicating between them and also with the business community seemed to be forefront for everybody,” Turtle added.
While the Lunch with Leaders is one of the Prairie Sky Chamber’s biggest initiatives, another one of their major projects is still in the works: the 2026 Business Excellence Awards.
Nominations are open for the awards until the end of January. Further information can be found at their website (prairieskychamber.ca).