A councillor in the Rural Municipality of La Broquerie has announced plans to run for re-election to represent Ward 2.
Laurent Tetrault says it is a privilege to serve the municipality and says he is running for re-election because there are projects that he wants to continue to work on.
“We want to improve drainage in the Marchand area and in La Broquerie. This is a subject that not many people talk about but it's very important for farmers,” he says. “We've improved rural roads a lot. We have increased the dust proofing in the rural because people don't like to have dust.”
The veteran councillor is particularly proud of the work done in Marchand to improve the community hall.
Tetrault says it was also an honour to work on the walking trail with a covered bridge in the village of La Broquerie.
“We worked hard for that project,” he says. “It's now become a tourist attraction and I'm very excited that that happened. You know the story; it was donated to us by a person that was raised in La Broquerie and has become very successful in Manitoba and decided to give us the bridge of the pioneers.”
Tetrault says council has recognized the young population in the municipality and makes decisions that reflect the needs of young families.
“Recreation and schools are very important for our families,” he says. “We've paved the parking lot at the arena, we've expanded the arena, play structures now for Marchand and La Broquerie, we have a splash pad, and (we are) building trails, not only in the village but in the rural area.”
Tetrault notes they have received many federal and provincial grants to pay for most of the costs related to these projects.
He credits municipal staff for working hard to find grant programs and submitting successful applications to help pay for these projects.
With a young and growing population, Tetrault says there are growing pains to overcome, to accommodate growth.
“We'll have to look at our lagoon, again,” he says. “We have businesses like Hylife that do use the lagoon a lot and when you're growing at 60 to 70 houses a year, eventually we'll have to do something with our sewer system. It would be nice maybe to join the municipalities that are building a treatment facility, maybe we could join that. That's something we should look at.
“And I think we need the twinning of Highway 52 between La Broquerie and Steinbach,” Tetrault adds. “It's a very dangerous highway and I think council will have to push the provincial government to invest money in our region. Southeast Manitoba is growing. We also need pavement on (highway) 302 south of La Broquerie and (highway) 303, which is 3 miles west of 52, to serve our residents so that they have another main road to travel on. So, we have lots of work in the next four years.”
If re-elected to council, Tetrault says residents can expect him to continue to work at promoting the municipality and to make it an even better place to live.
“Municipal elected officials, when they run (for office), their main goal is to build a better community and to serve the people. And I've done that since 1975, both as a CAO and a councillor," he says. "And it's so important to listen to people, to work hard for them, to push our agenda at the federal and provincial level so that we can have more for our residents. I sit on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities; I represent Manitoba on that board. And they sure know where the R.M. of La Broquerie is, and I make sure that we're even the topic at the national level.”
Tetrault has served as a La Broquerie councillor for the past seven years.