The City of Lloydminster says its public notification process meets all required standards, a position that stands in contrast to what city administration said publicly just six weeks ago.
At the April 20, 2026 regular council meeting, city administration confirmed on the record that a scheduled public hearing had to be rescheduled because statutory requirements had not been met.
“The statutory requirements to advertise the public hearing for at least two weeks in a publicly circulated medium was not met,” administration told council.
Mayor Aalbers acknowledged the challenge directly.
“Since the closure of the paper, I guess this is why this has become a little bit more challenging for our team,” Aalbers said.
Administration confirmed it was still working through the definition of what constitutes a publicly circulated medium. Councillor Jim Taylor asked the question directly.
“What is the definition now of a publicly circulated medium without a paper?”
Administration’s response was that it was “working through” the question “with legislation as well as communications.”
Five weeks later, on May 25, 2026, Bylaw 04-2026, a land use amendment redistricting property to low density residential, proceeded to a public hearing. The city clerk confirmed on the record that the hearing was advertised in the Meridian Source on May 7 and May 14, 2026, and that notice was provided in accordance with applicable legislation. The bylaw received second and third reading the same day. No members of the public appeared at the hearing.
The Meridian Source ceased print distribution on March 26, 2026, publishing a front page farewell to its print readers in its final edition.
Public notification: City’s stance
In response to a request for comment, City Manager Dion Pollard said the city’s legislated public notice requirements are governed by the Lloydminster Charter and Bylaw No. 13-2023.
“The City of Lloydminster’s legislated public-notice requirements are detailed in Section 159 of The Lloydminster Charter and the City’s Public Notification and Advertising Bylaw rather than Saskatchewan municipal legislation,” Pollard said. “Under the current legislative framework, the City is not required to place statutory advertisements in third-party publications provided that public notice requirements are met through the methods authorized by our bylaw.”
Pollard also said recent changes in the local media landscape had prompted a review of how public notices are delivered, echoing language used by administration at the April 20 council meeting.
“Recent changes in the local media landscape have prompted City Administration to review how public notices and other advertising are delivered moving forward,” he said. “We are evaluating both our mandatory legislative advertising obligations and any discretionary advertising investments that may be made to further enhance public awareness of municipal initiatives.”
At the April 20 meeting, administration told council it was “working through” the definition of a publicly circulated medium “with legislation as well as communications.” Six weeks later that review appears ongoing, yet Bylaw 04-2026 proceeded to a public hearing and passed in the interim.
Under Section 159.1(2) of the Lloydminster Charter, council must be satisfied the chosen advertising method is likely to bring matters to the attention of substantially all residents in the affected area. That is the standard Bylaw 13-2023 was built on, and it is the standard any publication used for public notification must continue to meet.
Public notification: What the Data shows
Independent third party traffic data from SimilarWeb for May 2026 raises questions about whether that standard is being met. *This publication recorded 27,017 estimated visits during the month compared to meridiansource.ca’s 4,311. For additional context, lloydminster.ca recorded 26,263 estimated visits during the same period.
SimilarWeb does not capture every visit to a website. Think of it like a survey, it measures a sample, not the full picture. BorderPulse’s actual verified traffic exceeds *146,000 visits May. However because SimilarWeb measures every website the same way, the comparison between publications is still valid. It’s like weighing three people on the same scale. The scale might be off, but it’s off the same amount for everyone. On a daily average basis, this publication recorded 965 visits per day compared to the *Meridian Source’s 154 via similarweb.
Perhaps most telling is visitor engagement. The average visit duration on this publication in May 2026 was four minutes and 26 seconds. On lloydminster.ca it was two minutes and 36 seconds. On *meridiansource.ca it was under 20 seconds.
Can a visit duration of under 20 seconds be consistent with a resident reading a public notice?
Whether the Meridian Source’s digital platform brings matters to the attention of substantially all residents remains an open question. It is one the city has not answered publicly, despite its own administration raising it six weeks ago and again June 1.
Three additional public hearings are scheduled for the June 22, 2026 regular council meeting.
Prior to publication, the city was provided an overview of SimilarWeb audience data comparing this publication and the Meridian Source for May 2026. That data was not addressed in the city’s response. The comparison to lloydminster.ca was conducted independently for this story.
Editor’s note: Since publication of this story, the Meridian Source has publicly disclosed its own verified analytics for May 2026. BorderPulse has incorporated that data into subsequent reporting. The Meridian Source reported 99,300 total website views and 5,275 electronic edition views in May 2026. BorderPulse recorded 146,912 verified page views during the same period. The substantially all residents question at the centre of this story remains unanswered.
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