Warman News

According to the 2011 census, the population of Melfort increased 7.4 per cent from 5,192 in 2006 to 5,576. "It reflects the information that we got from the health stats that the community is growing," said Brent Lutz, the community development manager with the City of Melfort.

Officials in Warman, Sask., are beginning discussions about changing the official status of the community from town to city, following a jump in population pushing them past the magic threshold of 5,000. According to the latest census, Warman's population has gone up 48.5 per cent in the last five years, from 4,769 in the 2006 count to 7,084 today.

The province's 6.7 per cent population increase in the 2011 census - coming after two consecutive censuses where Saskatchewan lost people - was the biggest turnaround in Canada.

Police officers from the Warman detachment of the RCMP say they are getting fed up encountering drivers who improperly use mobile phones, two years after a distracted driver law came into effect in Saskatchewan.

The move came just days after Municipal Affairs Minister Darryl Hickie ordered the number of divisions in Corman Park reduced to eight from 11, responding to the results of a referendum on the issue.