It’s not just the City of Thompson that is upset with the cuts made this year to the Provincial Municipal Road Improvement Program.

 

Mayor Dennis Fenske spoke to Arctic Radio News, and said that it was one of the things discussed at the recent Association of Manitoba Municipalities fall Cities Caucus meeting.

 

Mayor Fenske said that there is an emergency resolution going forward to AMM as a whole, as the program was cut from $12M in 2017 to $2.25M in 2018. Along with the large cut in amount of money available, Fenske said that while over 100 municipalities and RM’s received funding last year, less than 61 are getting money this year.

 

Mayor Fenske, who is not seeking a second term, said that the timing of the announcement was unacceptable, as crews were already on site working on the projects. He reiterated that the City had been told by Minister Wharton’s office that they would be receiving $400k, but only received half that amount.

 

Fenske said that the meeting also focused on cannabis, as municipalities will foot any extra enforcement and social impact costs without receiving any of the tax applied to the narcotic.

The tax is currently set to be split 75/25, with the larger chunk going to the Provinces, while Ottawa collects the rest.

 

The meeting took place last week in Flin Flon, with Mayor Fenske and City Manager Anthony McInnis in attendance.