May 6, 2022
Statement from Labour, Consumer Protection and Government Services Minister Reg Helwer and Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk on Meeting with Federal Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Dominic LeBlanc
Following up on an earlier bilateral meeting between Premier Heather Stefanson and Canada’s Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Dominic LeBlanc, we met with him today at the Manitoba Legislative Building to advance key infrastructure and climate adaptation projects for Winnipeg, for Manitoba and for Canada.
The Manitoba government has fully taken advantage of all available federal infrastructure funding and we stressed our ongoing commitment to partner on strategic investments that embrace necessary economic, social and environmental outcomes for all Manitobans.
Our meeting focused on Winnipeg’s North End Water Pollution Control Centre (NEWPCC), Winnipeg’s Transit Master Plan, the Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin Outlet Channels and expanding services to support CentrePort Canada.
We highlighted the need for both early federal approval of Phase 2 of the NEWPCC project and a federal funding source that would support Phase 3 of this project to ensure the pollution of Lake Winnipeg is addressed as soon as possible. As it has been for Phases 1 and 2 of this essential project, the Manitoba government will be at the table with our funding share for Phase 3 and we look forward to working with the federal government and the City of Winnipeg to identify an early path forward on this critical stage.
The Winnipeg Transit Master Plan has already advanced as originally planned and is currently being reviewed by the federal government for approval.
We also provided Minister LeBlanc with the latest update regarding the flooding situation across Manitoba and thanked the minister for the federal government’s ongoing collaboration. The province is working closely with all local authorities, Indigenous communities and emergency management partners during these challenges to support all response and recovery activities.
We also reviewed the status of the Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin Outlet Channels Project, a critical flood protection and disaster mitigation undertaking, and one of the largest infrastructure projects in provincial history.
Yesterday, Premier Stefanson had a very positive and productive working dinner with Minister LeBlanc on all of these projects, our unwavering support for Ukraine, the need to rebalance Canada’s health-care funding partnership and other collaborative opportunities on shared priorities for all Manitobans and Canadians.
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