APAS expresses importance of clean water in meeting with PM

Clean water was the topic of a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a number of local stakeholder groups last week in Regina.

The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) was among them.

Todd Lewis, the association’s president, said they spoke about how water is essential to farmers and ranchers.

“The question was ‘How do we see fresh water management in the province?’ Our viewpoint is agriculture is all about water,” Lewis said.

Lewis noted no commitments were made to any projects and that the meeting was to learn more about local concerns.

For agricultural producers, Lewis said two key issues are drought and flood management. He added that Regina Mayor Michael Fougere brought up the need for more water treatment facilities.

Other stakeholders present included representatives from the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina, First Nations, engineers, economists and other industries.

“It was a good opportunity to hear what the expectations are for water management in the province and they were there to listen — they did listen. There’s no commitments made, but I think they certainly understand the importance of water in the province,” he said.

— With files from Evan Radford