Western municipal leaders demand equal treatment by province

MELITA — Municipal leaders grilled the transportation and infrastructure minister on Tuesday over the state of the region’s highways and on the operation of the Shellmouth Dam.

A handful of the roughly 100 delegates from towns and rural municipalities across southwestern Manitoba questioned Lisa Naylor over funding decisions at this town’s legion hall during the Association of Manitoba Municipalities western district meeting.

“What have you invested in western Manitoba lately?” Pipestone Reeve Randy Henuset asked Naylor during a after her presentation.

Henuset cited the need for repairs on Highway 83, adding after the meeting that Pipestone’s provincial infrastructure is “getting neglected.”

Other municipal leaders questioned Naylor on the lack of repairs on highways 21 and 2, and inaction on community main streets that fall under provincial jurisdiction.

A councillor for the RM of Two Borders criticized the amount of money the province plans to spend on an overpass at the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5 north of Carberry, where 17 people were killed in a crash in 2023.

Peter Downey said the $100 million is a “little excessive” in contrast to the lack of funding for the intersection of Highway 83 and the Trans-Canada Highway west of Virden.

He said that money might be better spent by dividing it between all of the province’s municipalities.

Naylor said the overpass funding is important because of the strong advocacy from Carberry-area residents.

The province had supported an option that was one-fifth the cost (R-CUT intersention), but residents strongly opposed it.

Val Caldwell, deputy reeve of the RM of Wallace-Woodworth, stressed the importance of the province consulting with municipalities about the Shellmouth Dam, a reservoir on the Assiniboine River.

“It’s time that we step up and start supporting our producers,” Caldwell said.

“If we had the Corral Centre in Brandon flooded and those businesses were under water, people would pay attention,” she said.

Caldwell said if the operation of the dam results in farmland being flooded, instead of people’s homes along the river, farmers must be compensated.

She said 40,000 acres, including 12,000 in her RM, are affected by the Shellmouth Dam.

Other delegates brought up the paramedic shortage and the issue of wait times for ambulances.

After the meeting, Naylor told the Brandon Sun that speaking with local leaders is “fantastic” because she can get a sense of what is important and it informs the government’s decisions.

“It’s really a privilege to get to come out into these communities and hear directly from people about what impacts their lives every day,” Naylor said.

She said the issues raised by local officials will be raised with officials in her department.

The government spends more money on infrastructure every year, Naylor said, adding she’s “very happy” with its investment in highway and water capital programs since it came to power in late 2023.

Delegates also voted on a number of resolutions, including improving rural health care, changing how problematic residents can be removed from council meetings and allowing municipalities to burn down derelict buildings. The resolutions passed with little or no debate.

Melita Mayor Bill Holden said hosting the meeting is a positive because it gets provincial representatives into the community, some for the first time.

Kathy Valentino, the association’s president who is a councillor in Thompson, highlighted the federal government’s new law on bail reform, which the AMM has advocated for in recent years.

— Brandon Sun with files from The Canadian Press