Saskatoon hosts Midwest Legislative Conference

The annual Midwest Legislative Conference has officially kicked off, with Saskatoon serving as host this year.

“The whole goal is to listen to each other, have conversations, and develop relationships. We have so much in common with each other that learning from each other is the goal here,” Lori Carr, chair of the Midwest Legislative Conference, said.

Representatives from 11 states and four provinces will spend the next three days sharing experiences and ideas with one another. One of the scheduled discussion panels will focus on Canadian-U.S. trade relationships.

Carr says this will be a particularly important topic throughout the week, as tariffs continue to complicate trade between the two countries.

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“Continuing to get to know the people that are down in those U.S. states, them getting to know us, finding our common interests...we’re huge trading partners with the U.S. And for Saskatchewan, these 11 states are our biggest trading partners for us,” Carr said.

This year’s chairman’s initiative is called “North American Energy Security: Powering the Future,” and will focus on the future of energy and the accompanying resources that will help secure that energy.

“It’s all about having that all-of-the-above approach for energy security and learning what’s happening throughout the world... and ensuring that we have that reliable, affordable baseload power that we can use to power our province and continue moving forward,” Carr said.

After the event wraps up on Wednesday afternoon, Carr is hopeful that those in attendance will have built the necessary relationships to provide new opportunities for the people they represent.

“I want them to leave here and know that they’ve made the contacts that they need to make so that down the road, if they have questions, if they think, ‘oh gee, this could be a great opportunity,’ they know who they should be calling in whichever state that is applicable to,” Carr said.