Flin Flon councillors came back north with renewed hope on some issues following a series of meetings with provincial cabinet ministers.
Council members attended the annual Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) business meeting in Brandon Nov. 25-27 and provided a report to the rest of council and the public during the Dec. 3 council meeting.
“I thought it was very productive,” said Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley in his report on the proceedings.
“All the [provincial cabinet] ministers were there, as well as the Premier. The bear pit questioning was very interesting. The questions that were asked there were very good. More importantly, for meetings with ministers, we got access to everyone. I believe [we saw] everyone that we wanted to see, if not the minister, we got to see the deputy minister.”
The issues discussed by the Flin Flon group were similar to the concerns they brought forward in 2018 – namely the provincial base tax, carbon taxation plan, highways and infrastructure and funding for large-scale community projects.
“Hopefully, we can get some activity around. There wasn’t a whole lot of change in the issues that we took last year. We reaffirmed on the base tax. We talked about the impact of the carbon tax. We talked about highways to a certain degree. That was a smaller issue for us – it was a collective group that met, along with The Pas, Snow Lake, Thompson and Churchill.”
The ongoing grant process for the Flin Flon Aqua Centre was also a topic up for discussion. In order to have the new pool built to the City’s announced plans, a substantial amount of funding has to come from both provincial and federal infrastructure grants.
“With each minister we met with, we continued to lobby with our bid for the pool. We reaffirmed that the municipal funding was in place and we just needed the federal and provincial guys to step up,” Huntley said.
Housing in Flin Flon was another issue discussed at the meeting, particularly the properties owned or operated by Manitoba Housing.
“We talked with Manitoba Housing. We have some issues with Manitoba Housing inside the community and that may open up some business opportunities for existing groups. They are looking and I think it’s fair to say if there was an interested party looking to take over their housing interests in the community that they would certainly consider it,” Huntley said.
Within Flin Flon, Manitoba Housing looks after the Aspen Grove apartment complex, Fairview Heights and has had discussions in the past regarding the former seniors’ housing facility on Hemlock Drive. Last year, Manitoba Housing announced a public request for expressions of interest for the organization’s property at 4 Hemlock Drive. Submission intake for the property was closed in July 2018 and no further development has taken place at the site.
Province-wide, crime, safety and ongoing province-wide issues with drug use and addiction came up frequently. Councillors who attended the meeting said the subject of crime prevention was a top priority.
“Most of the questions had to do with protective services and safety. I’ve never seen it like this in all the years I’ve been going. With this meth problem, I’ve never seen more questions directed at the justice ministers. That was a major concern for everyone,” said councillor Karen MacKinnon.
