District 6 Report: Feb'09
February 2009
It has been a busy time for APAS board and staff since our AGM in December. Our year started with the addition of four new board members, including Charlie Boser from District 6. Charlie takes over his role from Larry Toner, who dedicated significant time and effort to the organization. We thank Larry for his years of service to APAS and to farmers and ranchers across Saskatchewan. His dedication and professionalism will be missed by all and we look forward to his renewed participation in the future.
Our other new Directors are Ernie Briggs from Whitewood, Norm Nordgulen from Assiniboia and Shaun Bourgeois from Lafleche.
APAS is looking forward to meeting with our provincial government and SARM in the upcoming weeks to discuss the top issues in our province. Over the past few weeks, we have been traveling and meeting with various groups across Canada. Vice Presidents Don Connick and Jeff Simpson attended Wild Rose Agricultural Producers' (WRAP) AGM on January 6 and 7, 2009. Key issues in Alberta are `COOL` regulations in the USA, surface rights, and bonding concerns. There were some extremely interesting speakers at the AGM, including Rick McConnell from DYMAC Risk Management Solutions, who spoke on a weather based insurance model and Mark Hemmes from the Quorum Corporation gave a presentation on the challenges within our rail system.
On January 28-30th, Greg Marshall, Jeff Simpson and APAS G.M. Nial Kuyek attended Keystone Agricultural Producers' (KAP) AGM in Winnipeg. This was a special AGM, celebrating KAP`s 25th anniversary year. Many members of the provincial government were in attendance at the banquet including the Ag. Minister, Rosann Wawchuk. The Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba John Harvard also attended throughout the two day AGM. Top items on KAP`s agenda are livestock, crop insurance (corn & soybean), transportation (railway) and drainage on agricultural land.
On February 5th the APAS Board attended a workshop at the Regina Inn with speaker Sheryl Mills. Sheryl brought years of experience to the session which covered team work and team communication. The workshop gave Board members and staff deeper insight into the teamwork process and more importantly, into each other resulting in a very productive day and a more cohesive team spirit within the office and across the organization!
The current calender is filled with RM meetings, the SARM convention and getting ready for the CFA annual in Ottawa Feb. 24-27Th. The livestock issue continues to be a major concern among western organizations and APAS plans on continuing the push for federal and provincial help. For more information on specific meetings, lobbying activities and events, be sure to visit our website at www.apas.ca.