Municipal representatives from across the province are in Brandon this week, as the Association of Manitoba Municipalities holds two events. The first is a Mayors, Reeves, and CAOs conference, with representatives from the Interlake, Central and Eastern district meeting in the morning. Wednesday and Thursday will see all municipal leaders gathered for a two day Municipal Officials Seminar. Portage la Prairie Mayor Irvine Ferris will be in attendance, and anticipates a busy few days.

"We've got meetings with the AMM Cities Caucus and other municipalities. There are also workshops and a number of issues discussed of mutual interest to most municipalities, to our city, and a lot of other cities. It's a chance to meet with municipal officials, and hopefully get some resolutions to issues we've raised at a provincial level."

One of those issues is the call for a more sustainable infrastructure funding model. While the AMM has been calling for changes on that matter for quite some time, they officially launched a campaign known as the 'Fair Share-Fair Say' campaign in conjunction with the provincial election. Ferris anticipates that will be the main topic of discussion during this week's meetings.

"The Fair Share-Fair Say campaign will be discussed. The election's less than a week away, so I think the Cities Caucus will be looking at how effective the campaign was, and see if some of the items on our agenda got on the agenda of the provincial politicians."

Ferris says in his view they've heard some feedback from the parties hoping to form the next government, but notes campaign promises are only half of the issue.

"Certainly we've heard from a number of parties talking about infrastructure and infrastructure funding. We'll really know the results quite a while after the election, once the government is formed."

The conference comes to an end on Thursday.