Councillors in the RM of Woodlands are looking forward to an opportunity to provide input into the way the province allocates funding for projects throughout Manitoba. Reeve Trevor King says they're preparing for a roundtable session with Indigenous and Municipal Relations Minister Eileen Clarke, where they'll discuss funding for infrastructure projects. It's a new initiative in the province, started by the new Progressive Conservative government. King feels this is a great step forward, and will benefit all municipal leaders.

"It's giving the municipalities their say on how they think the province should be providing money to the RMs. I think it's a great opportunity for us as elected officials to tell the province what our projects are, and how they can fairly distribute the money amongst us."

He says these roundtables were take on after a push for more discussions on infrastructure funding during the provincial election earlier this year. King notes the Association of Manitoba Municipalities promoted their Fair Share-Fair Say Campaign throughout the election period, and these roundtables are a direct result.

There have been multiple changes in how municipalities receive infrastructure in the past few months, based on recent elections. After the Liberals were elected federally, they've announced funding for several projects covering half of the cost, as opposed to the one-third seen in the past. Meanwhile the province and municipalities now fund just 25 per cent of these project each.