Archived News Releases

News Release - Manitoba

May 1, 2013

Modernization Key to Preparing Municipalities for Manitoba's Future: Lemieux



Legislation introduced today would allow for municipalities to proceed with amalgamations that reflect contemporary realities and their structures as they plan for the future, Local Government Minister Ron Lemieux has announced.

“Most of today’s municipal boundaries were established more than a century ago,” said Lemieux.  “We know municipal officials are looking for ways to modernize and evolve to meet today’s economic challenges.”

The legislation would give the province the ability to help municipalities move through the amalgamation process so they’re ready for the 2014 municipal election.  Through amalgamation, municipalities would become more efficient, which means more money invested into the services families count on, the minister said.

Lemieux said some of the ways municipalities would be strengthened through amalgamation would include:

  • reinvesting administrative savings into better services;
  • reducing operational costs through sharing major assets like water-treatment and recreation facilities;
  • helping to recruit and retain skilled municipal staff;
  • providing more opportunities to attract business and economic development with reduced red tape, common regional regulations, infrastructure and services; and
  • finding savings and efficiencies through economies of scale.

“Through amalgamation communities will see other benefits.  Larger municipalities will have increased opportunities to attract business and economic development with streamlined and simplified processes, regionally prioritized infrastructure and regionally delivered services according to natural communities of interest,” said Lemieux.

“Since our amalgamation, residents of Killarney-Turtle Mountain are seeing the real benefits of joining our communities together including a more efficient government.  We now have the ability to tackle significant infrastructure needs and to grow our community by having new developments that would not have happened had the rural and urban communities been not working as one,” said Rick Pauls, Mayor of Killarney -Turtle Mountain, which went through an amalgamation in 2007. 

“Both provincial and municipal governments are looking for ways of renewing and improving community infrastructure based on what Manitoba families are asking for,” Lemieux said.  “That is why the provincial budget confirmed the province will devote an amount greater than one point of provincial sales tax for critical local infrastructure through the Building Manitoba Fund.  This represents a continued increase in investments made in municipal infrastructure.  In fact, between 2005 and 2013, annual provincial funding support for municipalities has almost doubled, increasing by $200 million to $415 million in Budget 2013 from $215 million in 2005.”

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