Relationships are important, even when talking about cities.
Mayor Glenn Hagel (accompanied by a group of local councillors) spent the weekend enjoying the company of municipal politicians from across Canada during the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Conference and Municipal Expo in Toronto.
Among the seminars on building better communities, as well as listening to presentations from federal political leaders on issues impacting municipalities, Hagel said he anticipated one of the biggest benefits from the weekend convention would be the building of relationships with other Moose Jaw-sized communities.
The mayor said the informal conversations with FSM participants would hopefully give the city contacts it could use when investigating how other communities deal with various issues (as well as giving those communities Moose Jaw's contact information for similar purposes).
Similar to how an individual manages to function in the world, municipalities are not independent entities, but rather members of an even larger community, potentially learning from each others' failures and successes.
The cities, towns and villages of this province and country need to work together, sharing ideas and banding together when approaching senior government levels on such issues as infrastructure funding.
Communities should work together to solve common problems for the betterment of all
If Hagel manages to start community-level relationships with just a few cities during his adventures in Ontario's capital, he would have helped make the convention a success for the Friendly City.
All Times-Herald editorials are written by Times-Herald editorial staff.
