City Councillor re-elected to Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Thanks to City Councillor Joe Masi, Portage la Prairie will continue to have its voice heard on a national level.

On June 9, Masi was re-elected to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) for the second straight year. He says it was humbling to learn that municipalities throughout our province thought he deserved to stay as one of the FCM's board of directors.

"The Federation of Municipalities represents municipalities across Canada, and their primary function is to advocate on their behalf with the federal government," explains Masi. "Over the past year, there have been three key issues that we worked on."

He states these three issues are increasing revenue for municipalities regarding infrastructure, doubling the Community Building Fund (formerly the Gas Tax), and keeping municipalities safe through bail reform and other changes.

Masi adds that he received the most votes out of any candidate, but he attributes a lot of that to the hard work of his fellow council members.

"I want to do a real shout out to our mayor, Mayor Knox, and all my colleagues on Council," says Masi. "They passed the resolution endorsing me to run again, which is the first step. I felt their support throughout the convention, even the ones who couldn't attend were sending me texts saying good luck. "That means the world to me when your colleagues support you that way."

There will be three official board meetings per year, and Masi and the other FCM members will travel to wherever each meeting is taking place.