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Candidates acclaimed in 135 Sask. rural municipalities ahead of elections

Wednesday is election day for some rural municipal councils in Saskatchewan, but members of 135 of the 296 councils have already been elected by acclamation.

Polling for RM councils takes place every two years, alternating between elections for odd-numbered and even-numbered divisions.

This year's election is for even-numbered divisions, but many positions have already been confirmed because the candidates ran unopposed.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities is posting results on its website as it receives them.

Some municipalities where candidates ran unopposed have already posted their results — about 135 at 6 p.m. CST on Tuesday.

80% of seats won by acclamation in 2016

In 2016, about 80 per cent of council positions were taken by acclamation and only seven per cent of all elected RM officials were women.

Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Ray Orb said the number of people running for council at RMs is "satisfactory," adding that he has seen more turnover on councils at recent elections.

"One of the biggest factors is age. If you're talking about rural areas, a lot of these people are farmers so I think the average age of the farmers, the farmers themselves, is very close to 60," said Orb.

"There are some areas where it is getting harder to get people attracted to council but the numbers show us that there is still a lot of interest in people getting onto council."

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He said SARM is not actively promoting or tracking diversity but Orb believes the number of women running for council is increasing.

He said the association is working to promote better governance and anti-harassment training to address interpersonal issues on RM councils.

SARM has asked the province for more money to educate RM members on good governance in the next budget, Orb added.

"As far as people not getting along on council, I think that's always been there, but I think we recognize that might be an issue so we've been promoting better governance at some of the seminars that we teach," he said.

"They have some special training sessions as far as anti-harassment goes."

Carbon tax, grain transport among issues

He expects infrastructure to be the main priority for voters at this year's election.

For candidates, having a say on the carbon tax is among a variety of driving issues, Orb said.

"Grain transportation has become a real controversial issue over the last number of years. Since 2013, we've had problems moving our grain," he said.

"So some of the people are wanting to put their names forward to become elected officials because they believe they can make a difference for rural Saskatchewan."

Orb said new councillors can access comprehensive information to guide them on the rules and responsibilities of being a councillor.