Sault Ste. Marie loses bids to host new federal water agency offices

The 2023 federal budget contained some unfortunate news for Sault Ste. Marie – the city was believed to be among the finalists for the Canada Water Agency headquarters – was not chosen as the site for the new agency.

Since 2021 the city had been eyeing the opportunity to host the agency, which was now awarded to Winnipeg in the budget.

Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker called the news “disappointing,” adding he was confident in the city’s bid and still believes that being at the crossroads of three great lakes would have been the ideal location for the Canada Water Agency.

“We had the best reason for hosting the Canada Water Agency,” said Shoemaker.

“From our strategic location, to the partnerships that we had committed to creating and to the endorsements of our bid package from our neighbouring Indigenous communities, from across in Sault Michigan. All these key players in wanting us to host Canada Water Agency.”

Shoemaker had said the city was still interested in becoming a regional hub to support the work done in Winnipeg. There was no official timeline on when the announcement would be made when the mayor spoke with CTV News on Wednesday.

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A statement released by the federal government Friday furthered the disappointment for Sault Ste. Marie as they were not selected to host a regional office either.

According to the statement, regional offices will be placed in Vancouver, Toronto, Quebec City and Halifax. The statement went on to say that Winnipeg was chosen as the new agency’s headquarters because it will provide “regional responsiveness” by being located outside the nation’s capital.