The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor The Manitoba government is forcing the province's smallest communities to amalgamate with neighbours, but Snow Lake finds itself exempt. The province is mandating that municipalities with fewer than 1,000 citizens merge with neighbouring communities in order to reach the 1,000 population mark by 2014. But Snow Lake, with 723 residents, received word late last year that it won't be expected to comply. '...because amalgamation involves the merging of two or more municipalities who share a boundary, northern municipalities will not be able to take advantage of this opportunity,' wrote Local Government Minister Ron Lemieux in a Dec. 19 letter to Mayor Clarence Fisher. Lemieux said that while 'amalgamation is not an option' for Snow Lake, he encourages the town 'to explore other means of ways to strengthen your municipality, such as through regional partnerships, including partnerships with First Nations, and adopting better business practices.' From a geographic point of view, regional partnerships, rather than amalgamation, make more sense for Snow Lake. It is a fairly remote town, located a two-hour drive from both Flin Flon and The Pas. It is closer to Cranberry Portage, but the gap still stretches 150 kilometres. The NDP government said last year it would help small municipalities merge with neighbours to increase their size to at least 1,000 residents. Under provincial law, a community needs at least that many citizens to be legally recognized as a municipality. The NDP initially indicated that amalgamations would be voluntary. But a government spokesperson confirmed Monday that they will in fact be mandatory unless a community is, like Snow Lake, specifically exempted. 'The expectation has been properly communicated, by next fall, we expect municipalities to develop plans for amalgamations,' the spokesperson told The Reminder. 'The new municipal boundaries need to be implemented in time for the next general municipal election in 2014.'
