The recent Association of Manitoba Municipalities 2022 fall Convention had some issues brought to the table by the RM of Portage la Prairie.

Deputy Reeve Garth Asham says RCMP officials were present, and concerns that the municipalities presented to them were very well-received, including crime and staffing topics.

He notes his council raised the following issues.

"We had three resolutions," continues Asham. "One was on the maintenance of third-order drains, which are drains that are being maintained by the province that haven't been kept up to standard by mowing and preparing it for the spring run. We also had a resolution to reassess the taxes that the pipelines and CN presently pay. We feel it's an uneven system, and one that we, hopefully, can look at, and increase the revenue from those two entities."

He notes the third resolution was about the elimination of the Diesel Exhaust Fluid policy for their trucks, which doesn't help RMs in the wintertime.

"The DEF fluid is a very contentious issue with some of our equipment," adds Asham. "It makes it temperamental in cold weather and it's not a great system for RMs. We work in the cold weather and it's not a great system to have. It doesn't benefit us at all and we know it's an initiative by the federal government, but it's not the initiative that we'd like to see. We'd like to see more consideration for all municipalities."

Asham says all the resolutions were passed. 

"Now the AMM will lobby the respective governments on these issues, which is what the AMM does," says Asham. "So, we look forward to hopefully getting some positive results."

He explains with Kam Blight acclaimed as AMM President for the next two years, the RM has a great voice for our area.

"Kam's well respected and well recognized," notes Asham. "He does an excellent job and we elected two vice presidents. They were in the roles before, but they also had to have another election as there were four nominations. Brad Saluk and Kathy Valentino were elected as Vice Presidents to assist Kam and the duties for the RM."

Asham says the convention operated quite well. He says they look forward to working with the AMM next year.