Message to the Membership – July 21, 2026
Well hello again. Long time, no see.
What are you doing writing one of these messages to the membership at the end of July, in the middle of summer when no one’s around to read it? Especially when you’re on holidays yourself?
Well, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, a writer writes. (Which supposedly I am.)
Secondly, although our cabin is by no means remote, it has horrible – and I mean horrible – power continuity. I’m currently without electricity, and you’d be surprised how quickly you realize your life – and I mean everything in your life – revolves around power.
About the only thing that has any battery power in it is my laptop (because I haven’t used it since starting my holidays Friday afternoon). And thirdly, what else are you going to do when there’s no power and a fully jacked up laptop with no connectivity to anything in the outside world?
Just to set the tone, as I write this, dusk is setting in and there is a thunderstorm with symphonic and theatrical drama all around me, while the steady downpour of rain is the constant acoustic accompaniment. It’s good for the soul.
I should also mention that I presently am Han Solo, as my wife returned to Saskatoon earlier this evening to work for a few days while I remained up north to enjoy the peace and solitude that summer in northern Saskatchewan brings.
I must admit too, that although in the past I’d heard from literally hundreds (and more likely thousands) of you how much you enjoyed reading these messages when I used to write them fairly regularly during the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery period, I also had feedback from one nimrod who basically derided me for sharing several of my personal observations in this space. ‘What does that have to do with business? Or the NSBA?’ they asked.
Well, admittedly, sometimes it’s SFA (so fundamentallly absent… what were you thinking?), other times though, it’s fairly symbiotic. Because I live and breathe business. It’s ingrained in me. It’s what I do and how I am.
So if you’re that nimrod who derided me for sharing my thoughts in this space (and you’re still reading this Message), I say thank you. You’ve proven that they work. Indeed statistics have shown that our weekly e-blasts that are circulated to the membership are opened exponentially more when I write something to accompany the regular commentary and announcements that we share weekly.
Add to that Brayden Caron, the NSBA’s Marketing and Communications Coordinator, asked me to start writing more of these. So here you go.
Ok, that being said, onto business. There’s so much to catch up on.
From an advocacy standpoint, there are a few big files that we remain on top of. Locally, the 1st Avenue BRT design is still a going concern for us. Along with Downtown Saskatoon we have procured a local architectural and design firm – Catterall and Wright Consulting Engineers – to provide the City with our take on what a functional design would look like.
The first phase is just looking at loading options and deliveries for businesses along the route. We may next ask them to look at a complete redesign of the traffic lanes to incorporate two lanes of traffic as opposed to one that the City is proposing. We may run out of time on this one though as we’re being told that the City is bringing back the two-lane design to Committee and Council in September. Ugh.
We’re still supporting the DEED, which admittedly gets mixed views, but we still think that if the business case is presented in a realistic way, that the venues will make a tremendous economic impact on the City and Province. We wrote a letter of support for the Muskeg Lake MOU as well, as that can have a tremendous impact on the viability of the project.
Our provincial advocacy is melding into our federal advocacy as we were invited to participate in the Trade and Export Department’s Ministerial roundtable to provide input on the Fed’s negotiations with the U.S. and Mexico on the CUSMA negotiations. We conducted some member outreach to determine we were on the right track with our messaging and shared that emphatically with the Minister.
After I shared what our members said, I concluded by asking him to tell our negotiators to not bow down to the U.S. negotiators, because despite what their illustrious leader says, we indeed do have what they need – not just Canada has it, but Saskatchewan has it – and they know it.
More to come, but that will be another day’s topic. Enjoy this beautiful Saskatchewan summer – storms and all.
Until next time, be kind, be patient, and look after one another.
Keith Moen
Executive Director
NSBA – Saskatoon’s Business Association
