The Pallister government is not budging as far as the Mining Community Reserve Fund (MCRF) is concerned.
Mayor Dennis Fenske was in Winnipeg last week to meet with Blaine Pedersen, the Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade, about the fund.
The meeting was held on June 26th and was supposed to be between Mayor Fenske and Minister Pedersen, though the Minister added Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton as well as multiple assistants.
Fenske said that Pedersen once again said that the City of Thompson cannot access the MCRF, and that when asked if that was the answer for this year or the next four years the Minister simply said no.
Fenske added that he is extremely disappointed in both the Minister and local MLA Kelly Bindle for not speaking about the job loss that Thompson is facing.
The Mayor said that he doesn’t know what the $10M is for if Thompson, facing the largest mining-related job loss since the MCRF was created, can’t touch it.
He said that the City will continue to lobby the government on the issue, as well as investigate any legal options that would be available.
