Winnipeg North Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader Kevin Lamoureaux paid a visit to Portage la Prairie Mayor Sharilyn Knox Tuesday. He notes it's somewhat of an outreach effort, and he was accompanied by Portager Quinn Ferris who's working with the government in Winnipeg.

"We had the mayor of Brandon come to Ottawa to do some advocacy and I indicated that I'd love to be able to come out and visit Brandon," says Lamoureaux. "It's been a while since I've been there and he said, 'By all means.' So, summer comes by and we do the follow-up. Then I'm telling Quinn (Ferris) about it and Quinn says, 'Hey, we've got to include Portage la Prairie in that.' Quinn has a love for Portage la Prairie and I have an interest in Portage la Prairie because it's an important community here in the province of Manitoba."

He says he spoke with Mayor Knox about a couple of important issues. 

"I raised the issue of the housing impact and we talked about some of the city administrative things," says Laoureaux. "Then she gave me a friendly Portage la Prairie tour of the council chamber up on the third floor and I learned a little bit about the building, itself. Well, for me, I wanted to be able to express congratulations and talk a little bit about some of the issues that are important."

"We talked about some things that we thought would be of interest both at the local level and at the national level. And a big part of making trips like this is that you're trying to build a relationship. I know her now as the mayor here in Portage la Prairie. She knows me as a Member of Parliament that sits on the government benches." 

He says the alignment of priorities can be formed when federal, provincial, municipal, and Indigenous leaders get to know each other. Lamoureaux notes this can actually make a difference.

"A good example of that is probably the childcare program," continues Lamoureaux. "The federal government says, 'Hey, look. We want to have a national childcare program modeled after what's taken place in the province of Quebec.' We work with all the different provinces and the territories, so you have the provinces and federal government coming together, agreeing on some principles. Then municipalities step up and they start making things available. Then, all of a sudden, you are investing literally hundreds of millions of tax dollars and you're investing in children. You're investing in people being able to enter into the workforce as the province of Quebec demonstrated."

Lamoureaux says Quebec saw $10-a-day daycare experience a real impact.

"To the province of Manitoba's credit, they've already achieved the $10-a-day daycare in good part to well in advance of what we had agreed to," explains Lamoureaux. "It is encouraging to see that. Portage la Prairie is going to be a benefactor in receiving it. Once you start building relationships and you're better able to to work cooperatively, the taxpayer benefits."