tank: bold, ambitious block believes saskatoon can solve homelessness
3 minute read
mayor cynthia block delivers the state of the city address at the chamber luncheon at tcu place.
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
the challenges keep piling up for saskatoon mayor cynthia block, just a little more than six months into her first term.
block knew homelessness would be a major struggle she would need to tackle, and she acknowledged it on election night as her top priority.
but she probably was not expecting the overdose crisis that continues to shake the city, with the fire department responding to 30 overdoses over three days this month to go with the hundreds so far this year and at least 21 deaths. the substances causing this month’s overdoses remain unknown.
then there’s the escalation in bear spray incidents. plus the looming impact of donald trump’s tariffs. and, just when you might have had trouble imagining another big issue, the south saskatchewan river is depleted and sandbars now threaten to impede summer fun and hinder businesses.
saskatoon’s very identity seems threatened. so no better time for a new mayor to drop a state of the city speech, right?
but, no, block did not take a sick day to duck the annual greater saskatoon chamber of commerce event where the mayor addresses the city’s business leaders and some politicians (although no provincial government members appeared to be in attendance).
saskatoon’s first woman mayor delivered a 12-minute speech followed by a 45-minute question-and-answer session during what can only be described as a pretty dark time for this city.
and she established herself as a bold, ambitious leader or, perhaps, less charitably, a naive one.
block, who spent eight years as a councillor prior to her successful run for mayor last year, explained the realities the city faces when it comes to rising costs, using the example of the escalating price for a fire engine.
“we need a new fiscal framework,” block said, adding she believes the federal government has a role to play. “property tax is not a sustainable tool when that type of inflation is happening in our communities.”
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of course, cities across canada have been fighting for years for greater taxing powers and flexibility, a subject debated at length by saskatoon city council in 2013 before block got elected. that revolution fizzled.
but that’s no reason to abandon the fight. block already met with canada’s new prime minister, mark carney, when he was running to become liberal leader back in february.
these annual speeches often tend to be marked by boosterism, citing saskatoon’s and city hall’s successes — and block did her share of that, including with a slick video that preceded her speech — but she could hardly avoid talking about the challenges she faces.
the former broadcast journalist acknowledged the city cannot solve the many crises it faces on its own.
“our tools are fire and police,” block explained of city hall. “the cost of this is just going to keep going up and people are dying in our streets. we can and must do better.”
not exactly the sunny stuff you might expect at a business luncheon. but block pierced the doom and gloom with her positivity.
saskatoon may not be able to solve these problems by itself, but it can lead the way, block insisted.
“i will continue to believe that if we work together, there’s nothing we can’t achieve or overcome,” she said. “i said that a lot on the campaign, but i truly believe it.
“it’s saskatoon. if any city is going to get to the other side of homelessness, it’s going to be us. so i think we just have to believe that and move forward.”
that qualifies as a very bold statement in front of a room full of business people facing unprecedented uncertainty. the alternative, i suppose, was admitting defeat or spending an hour blaming other levels of government for the crises.
the most recent homeless count in saskatoon, conducted in october, identified a stunning 1,499 individuals. two libraries temporarily closed this year as a result of the pressures from vagrants.
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but block is not just talk. council passed a homeless strategy earlier this year, and a drop-in centre is being planned.
the odds seem stacked against saskatoon solving homelessness, but we probably need a mayor right now who believes we can.
phil tank is the digital opinion editor at the saskatoon starphoenix.
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