MCAC NEWS

FROM DREW’S DESK...

On March 19th, MCAS held its 81st Annual General Meeting in Regina. I am pleased to introduce your board of directors for 2026-2027.

Board of Directors

Directors At Large

BONSPIEL WRAP UP

MCAS held its 53rd Curling Bonspiel in Regina on March 19-20. With 28 teams competing for ultimate bragging rights, it was a fun filled weekend of networking and curling. Check out our website for the full list of winners – congratulations to M.D. Mechanical for winning the A Event.

Our event would not have been as successful without the support of our sponsors, and we want to say a HUGE THANK YOU!

THANK YOU

CONGRATAULTIONS TO “M.D. MECHANICAL”

Competition was tough, curlers were focused, and the laughter was never ending.  M.D. Mechanical persevered and took home the top prize for the first time ever!  Congratulations to Ben Schwartz, Jake Schwartz, Wade Thomas, and Daryl Schwartz.

UPCOMING EVENTS

2026 LobsterFEST!!!

Shell yeah, it’s LobsterFEST! We’re teaming up again with SMART Local 296 to bring you our second annual LobsterFEST— a joint event filled with fresh seafood, tasty drinks, and fun. It’s going to be a claw-some party and one unforgettable night!

2026 North Ron Young Memorial Golf Tournament – registration opens Thursday, April 9th, 2026!

SCSA Conference April 22-23, 2026

FEATURE SPOTLIGHT

EDUCATION NEWS

Coming June 9 – 12 is HVAC training in Saskatoon.  Registration opens on April 6th.

Vertiv Thermal Management Training from June 2 – 5, 2026 here at the MCAS office.

Please visit the MCAS website for the most up-to-date information on training events at www.mca-sask.com .   

SPOTLIGHT ON BENEFITS

As consumers we tend to shop around for almost everything, doing our best to save a few dollars here and there. When it comes to health costs, however, we often skip this step. Instead, we tend to go to whichever pharmacy happens to be the most convenient. We hand over our benefits card, and our employer covers the cost (or part of the cost) of our prescriptions or fillings.

With plan usage and costs on the rise, though, it’s important that employees try to help contain some of these costs.  An easy way to do this is to consider having prescriptions filled at pharmacies that charge relatively low dispensing fees (the fee that is charged to have a prescription filled).  Dispensing fees vary greatly from pharmacy to pharmacy, and can account for as much as 15% of drug costs, so they can have a significant impact on the overall cost and affordability of your company’s benefits plan.

For example: Costco currently charges a dispensing fee of around $5 but many other pharmacies charge a fee of $10 or more.  When you take into consideration the number of prescriptions that each person and potentially his or her family get filled each year, and multiply this by the number of employees at a company, you can see how this might really add up over the course of a year.

If you have a preference for a particular pharmacy that charges a higher dispensing fee, by all means, continue to do so.  I encourage you, though, to do whatever you can to help contain rising benefit plan costs and, by extension, help keep your plan affordable. Choosing your pharmacy carefully is one really good (and often easy) option.

Michael Carss, B. Comm. 
Director, Innovation & Growth, Wiegers Financial and Insurance Planning Services Ltd. 
Wiegers Financial & Benefits 
306-244-0949 
michael.carss@wiegers.ca 

Matthew Hill 
Benefits Associate, Wiegers Financial and Insurance Planning Services Ltd. 
Wiegers Financial & Benefits 
306-244-0949 
matthew.hill@wiegers.ca 

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

MEMBERSHIP CONNECTION

Sometimes we need advice, and we don’t know where to find it.  While MCAS staff are available to the membership, often a contractor simply needs to talk to another contractor. There is a wealth of knowledge available within our membership, but it needs to be accessible.

The solution:  MCAS Peer to Peer Program. 

The concept is simple:  Provide a platform for members to seek the advice of other members. 

Connecting is easy:  Simply visit the MCAS website and head to our Peer-to-Peer tab. There you will find a list of the names and contact information of contractors who are available to take your call or respond to an email. 

And it is always confidential. Just another way we are adding value to your membership.

INDUSTRY FOCUSED. MEMBER DRIVEN.

MEMBERSHIP

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