Feedback on Route Options - October 2025

Our first round of public engagement on potential routes was completed this summer. We first contacted rural municipalities (RMs) and communities in the spring to tell them about the project and upcoming public engagements. Then we mailed information packages to landowners and other stakeholders inviting them to open houses in July and August.

We designed our engagement approach with the project’s large geographic area in mind. To minimize travel time and make it easier for stakeholders and community members to engage with us in person, we set up open houses in six communities throughout the area––St. Gregor, Lake Lenore, Melfort, St. Brieux, Annaheim, and Leroy. We plan to further engage communities and stakeholders in the future to get feedback on our recommended line routes.

What We Heard

At the open houses, each stakeholder was encouraged to help us learn about important things they wanted SaskPower to consider while deciding on a final route for the new power line. Some of the concerns raised included:

• likely impact to agricultural operations and future expansion
  • challenges of farming around power poles – stakeholders noted it’s time consuming, adds extra cost to input, and asked how much compensation is offered
• weed control around poles
• impact to property value
  • safety related to larger farm equipment and manoeuvring around power poles, as well as the likely impact to aerial crop spraying (which is common in the area), electric and magnetic fields, and future technologies such as drone spraying

There was agreement among landowners that the infrastructure is needed to ensure power reliability. They also asked that we consider reducing impacts as best as possible by suggesting we:

• don’t get too close to houses/farmyards
• route along section (property) lines
• avoid routing diagonally across fields
• consider avoiding air strips
• avoid those who already have power lines on their properties, if possible
• don’t go too close to bird flight paths and other wildlife sanctuaries

Most participants indicated that they felt heard, better informed, and understood that no decision had been made on where the final route would go.

What's Next

We hope to engage stakeholders and communities for more comments this winter. Stay tuned for information about dates and locations.

We’ll present the recommended routes we develop based on the feedback we’ve heard and our technical requirements.