Another year is in full swing and Mayor Fraser Tolmie has delivered his State of the City Address. The traditional kick off to the first council meeting of the year highlighted all of the activities that Moose Jaw hosted in 2017 and some of our city's accomplishments over the last several decades.

But Tolmie also said 2018 will be a year of choices. "What does it take to overcome? What does it take to be a winner? What does it take to make the world we live in better?"

"Courage. Courage to overcome, courage to face the challenge of the day and courage to challenge what has been the status quo. Courage is a choice and Moose Jaw has a choice."

While Moose Jaw saw a lot of major events in 2017, City Hall was not immune to controversy. A planned move to curbside garbage collection, am apparent lack of communication with business owners in the downtown, residents feeling uninformed about road closures and businesses saying they lost business due to lengthy water main repairs.

"We have to challenge ourselves and step out of our comfort zones so that progress can be made. We need to go from being critical to being constructive, from making things personal to taking issues to a professional level so that our community can benefit as a whole."

Tolmie will give the address again at the Citizen and Group of the Year Awards on Thursday.