The Association of Manitoba of Municipalities saw 2023 as a great both for advocacy and business, especially for business. That's from President Kam Blight.
"We were able to provide a rebate of $2,000,000 to our member municipalities," notes Blight. "We were extremely successful on that side, and in regards to the advocacy side of things, we had a record-breaking year with success. We're very pleased with that. We saw the ending of the funding freeze from municipalities, and a rather nice increase to all municipalities, which is greatly appreciated, as well as a number of other successes. But, you know, certainly, our work does not end there."
He reflects on their dealings with the new NDP government so far.
"A lot of our year was spent on preparing for the upcoming election and making sure that we got municipal issues as part of the election platforms for all the parties going forward," continues Blight. "We felt we were very successful in doing that. We brought forward four key pillars. Of concerns for our member municipalities and we know that that those issues were discussed with every single party and by every single party throughout the election campaign."
He explains all of that indicates their great success in the campaigns they initiated for municipal issues and notes they look forward to working with the new NDP government going forward.
"For the most part, they're following through on some of the promises and plans were implemented by the previous government," adds Blight. "We're very pleased to see that there are no shocks to the system, per se. But you know, the conversations are continuing. There's ongoing advocacy work on our behalf. There are some issues that are unfinalized that we're trying to address. We're going to continue to work with the new provincial government on just that. And it just starts with having a conversation."
In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, SteinbachOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the SteinbachOnline app.