Saskatoon city councillor Ann Iwanchuk says she will not seek re-election

Saskatoon city councillor Ann Iwanchuk announced Monday that she would not seek re-election in this fall's election.

"Overall it's just been such a great opportunity," Iwanchuk said. "You learn so much when you are able to interact with so many different people in that way and it's just all been great."

Iwanchuk was first elected to represent Ward 3 which includes Fairhaven, Parkridge, Blairmore, Pacific Heights, Kensington and Confederation Park in 2011.

She is also employed as a negotiator, mediator, arbitration specialistand facilitator with the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Iwanchuk is planning to go back to school part-time with the goal of getting a law degree. She said her cup was running over.

"I can't do that and have my other full-time job, be on council and spend time with my family so, you know, something had to give," she said.

Iwanchuk said she has been interested in law her whole life and now is the time to pursue it.

"I feel like I've made a contribution [on council]. I'm proud of some of the decisions that I've been involved with and it just seemed like the right time."

She said one of her biggest accomplishments was increasing the snow removal budget.

"One of my goals when I got elected was to actually have snow removal, not snow moving, you know to actually have it removed from the streets," she aid.

"We didn't quite get there but there have been some great strides made and I think that everyone throughout the city has been the benefit of having that additional funding in the snow clearing budget."

Another high-water mark was getting a dedicated road levy to improve the city's roads.

"That allowed us to make excellent progress in our roads and to bring them up to a standard that you know they're actually drivable."

Iwanchuk said she's very happy with the development of Blairmore and Kensington in her ward.

She said people on the west side now have all sorts of amenities nearby without having to drive across town.

Iwanchuk chaired the personnel subcommittee of City Council that oversees employees that report directly to council.

"I think we've made really good strides there and how we do that in a more professional way," she said.

Iwanchuk said in the near future council will have to deal with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the city budget.

"We did have a two-year budget. I anticipate that there may be some debate about the 2021 budget as a result of some shortfalls that we have through the pandemic."

Of course, garbage is always a hot topic in Saskatoon.

"I think there will be additional discussions about waste management and how that's done and what that's going to look like into the future. And of course there's going to be discussions about climate change mitigation," she said.