South Peace News presents a series of question-and-answer features from elected local government leaders to explain goals for the coming year. Paula Guindon became the reeve of the M.D. of Smoky River in October 2025, elected by council, after she served as a councillor from 2021-25.
FROESE: Looking ahead to 2026, what do you want to see accomplished as a council, why and how?
GUINDON: Council recognizes the need for sustainable growth for the region. A couple of ways we will do this is by keeping communication lines open with our industrial taxpayers. Staying ahead of of any potential challenges will provide us more time to plan and address these, should they arise.
Prioritizing the exploration of industry and economic development, council will participate in identifying development opportunities. This will be key to the longevity and sustainability of our region.
We are also reviewing our service levels to ensure we are able to meet and maintain our current standards.
With inflation and cost increases, we need to review our policy and programs and determine how we will continue to provide these services and at what level.
Unpaid oil and gas property taxes jeopardized our commitment to funding community programs such as Smoky River Family and Community Support Services, Smoky River Regional Economic Development and others.
We are pleased that we will be continuing to fund these programs again this year. Community programs have been and remain a council priority.
FROESE: What are the top priorities, projects, issues in 2026?
GUINDON: Council will be creating a strategic plan for the municipality. With 50 per cent new council members, we are excited to see what council sets for its long-term strategic plan.
The M.D. has successfully completed construction of a new bulk water truck station located on Range Rd. 213 (north of Viterra) and was officially opened on March 12. The project, which began in 2025, provides essential potable water access to residents, agriculture and industrial stakeholders throughout the M.D.
Council continues to collaborate with department heads to identify service level challenges, set clear expectations and implement a results-oriented budget to ensure consistent service delivery across the municipality.
As well, council is currently in the planning stages of a gravel crush. Scheduled to commence in 2027, the project will secure about three years supply of gravel resources for municipal infrastructure maintenance and development.
FROESE: What are the key things to move the municipality forward to be sustainable and grow in the future?
GUINDON: The M.D. has experienced significant economic vulnerability due to fluctuations and uncertainty in the oil and gas sector. The results of this have impacted all areas within our municipality.
To ensure future prosperity, council has identified that:
- Economic diversification must become a focus of our development strategy.
- The municipality needs to take a proactive stance in the cultivation of new industrial opportunities.
- Broadening our tax base is essential for financial stability.
Looking comparatively at other municipalities, those that support diverse industrial and commercial development consistently demonstrate greater financial resilience and sustainable growth potential.
FROESE: What are some of the most challenging things about your role as reeve?
GUINDON: This is a new role for me and I want to represent my community well.
Currently, I don’t know if I can pin down specific “reeve role” challenges.
What I know is that challenges will arise and sometimes they will require hard decisions.
Fortunately, we have an entire council that will work together to make the strongest decisions possible for our municipality.
FROESE: What are the biggest challenges facing the municipality and how will council overcome them?
GUINDON: The biggest challenges facing our municipality are sustainable funding, the increase to policing costs and deteriorating infrastructure requiring significant capital investment.
Continued advocacy provincially and federally will be key to address these issues.
FROESE: What were some the biggest challenges the municipality faced in 2025?
GUINDON: Unpaid oil and gas property taxes is the top of the list. The impact from not receiving these taxes was devastating. Multiple decisions had to be made to compensate for the shortfall. Program service levels were adjusted and reduced. All departments required budgetary cuts.
We were unable to contribute to reserves and capital projects and we gave notice to our community program partners that we may have to pull funding. These decisions were not wanted but necessary.
We exhausted every option to enforce payment and we were left with few alternatives.
This was the biggest challenge of 2025.
FROESE: What was the most unexpected issue the municipality had to deal with in 2025?
GUINDON: The insolvency of our largest oil and gas taxpayer was the most unexpected thing the municipality had to deal with in 2025.
The realization that we had little to no recourse to recover the taxes owed to the municipality required hard decisions that would negatively impact our region.
FROESE: Any other comments to add?
GUINDON: The year 2025 was challenging.
But 2026 is when we begin to recover and move forward.
We have a strong community and a council determined to hear, address and find solutions for our area and its needs.
Richard Froese
South Peace News