Saskatoon Ex parade cancelled but it's not clear why
An iconic Saskatoon parade isn’t going ahead this year and there are conflicting reasons about the reason why.
The parade organizers say the cancellation is because downtown construction is interrupting its route.
Susan Kuzma, manager of signature events at Prairieland, says organizers “exhausted all options” to make the parade happen.
“There's extensive road construction along our regular route. We proposed a couple of other options as well and there just simply was not anything that was going to work,” Kuzma tells CTV News.
But the city of Saskatoon says that’s not true.
It says the reason the parade isn’t going ahead is because organizers missed the Jan. 1 application deadline.
Had the city known about the parade plans, it says it would adjust the downtown construction schedule.
“The city did not receive notice or a parade application from the Ex. This is required so construction and detours can be planned,” the city’s construction and design department wrote in a statement emailed to CTV News.
Kuzma said organizers began sending “some of our applications back in February.”
She said they never submitted a final application because they couldn’t get past the first step of finding a route.
“We never got past the route. We weren’t able to find a suitable route that was going to work,” Kuzma says.
The city says it only found out about the parade in April — through an advertisement on the Ex website.
Still, the city says it tried to work with the Ex to find a new route or host the parade on a different day.
“The city was awaiting a reply from the Ex parade organizers ... we had not heard anything from the Ex until we became aware of the parade cancellation in the news media,” according to the city statement.
Kuzma says the city’s proposed alternate routes weren’t ideal, and it’s looking ahead to next year.
“We’ll bring it back bigger and better next year. We'll start working with the city in January if we need to,” Kuzma says.
The city says it’s still willing to work with the Ex to make this year’s parade happen
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.