Blaine Pedersen did not meet with Mayor Dennis Fenske and the rest of Thompson City Council when he was in town at the end of April to discuss the Mining Reserve Fund because he felt he had all the information that he needed.
That’s according to Thompson MLA Kelly Bindle, who serves as the Legislative Assistant to the Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade.
Mayor Dennis Fenske spoke at the May 7th council meeting before the 2018 Financial Plan was passed, saying that Pedersen would not meet with Mayor and Council to discuss the Mining Reserve Fund despite being in Thompson. Fenske added that the City has not received any commitment from the Pallister government with regards to monies in the Mining Reserve Fund.
Speaking to Arctic Radio News, Bindle said that Pedersen had met with Fenske three weeks previously in Winnipeg, and that “he believed he had all the information he required from the City at the time regarding the GIL (Grant-in-Lieu)”.
Bindle added that the Minister flew to Thompson that morning and left in the evening, and that the purpose of Pedersen’s visit was to attend the Economic Development Summit,
Bindle said that during the last meeting between Fenske and Pedersen, which Bindle was in attendance for, Minister Pedersen brought up a conversation that he (Pedersen) had been told about between Jeff Wharton (the Minister of Municipal Relations) and Mayor Fenske with regards to both the Province and AMM (the Association of Manitoba Municipalities) offering to “help the City (of Thompson) go over the budget and find efficiencies”.
Mayor Fenske addressed the suggestion of budget help during the regular meeting of City Council last night, and said that it was AMM who offered the help through the Province. Fenske said “as a member (of AMM) this council should take great offense to that suggestion...that the lobbying organization that we pay membership dues can better manage our budget and better identify budget priorities than we can as councilors”.
Mayor Fenske added that he made that point to Minister Pedersen, saying that the suggestion of AMM being able to do a better job than council on the budget for Thompson was short of offensive, and that the Province didn’t offer support through the Mining Reserve Fund. Fenske said that he was told by other government staff other funds could potentially be accessed.
