The Reeve of the RM of Cartier says they've had productive meetings so far, he joins municipal leaders from across the province at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities events in Brandon this week. Yesterday marked the first day of the conference, with the mayors, reeves and CAO meetings from the central, Interlake, and eastern region in the morning. Dale Fossay says those sessions focused on the various issues being tackled by the AMM, as they lobby the province.

"The executive of the AMM updated us on a number of issues they're discussing with the provincial government on an ongoing basis. They covered just a wide range of issues including the pesticide ban, accessibility issues, support for community clubs, just a wide range of topics."

Today marks the beginning of the AMM's Municipal Officials Seminars, which includes representatives from across Manitoba. Fossay says that seminar, and the many workshops it entails promises to be an enlightening experience.

"I think our interest is a number of them on public relations, there's a number of them on financial management of municipality's cash-flows and presentation of budgets. So there are a number of very interesting presentations and we'll try to take in as many as we can."

The municipalities are also set to year an update on how the Fair Share-Fair Say Campaign has succeeded this election. The campaign calls for provincial party leaders to address the need for a more sustainable infrastructure funding model, and Fossay says initial discussions have shown the campaign has had an impact.

"The AMM has been very active in this year's provincial election. I'm not choosing sides, but certainly it's been bringing awareness to the candidates of the important role municipalities play in delivering services and maintaining infrastructure. They're really been challenging all of the candidates across the province to listen to the local concerns."

The campaign focuses on highlighting the fact municipalities are responsible for about 60 per cent of infrastructure maintenance, but only receive 8 cents of every tax dollar collected in Canada.