The two associations that speak for municipalities in Manitoba are on the verge of a merger, which both sides say should boost their clout with the provincial government.
Rochelle Zimberg, executive director of the Manitoba Association of Urban Municipalities, said she hopes an amalgamation will snuff out the divide-and-conquer tactics the provincial government uses on municipal organizations now.
“We all come together as one united voice so the province can’t say we have to wait and talk to the other association.”
MAUM unanimously passed a resolution in favor of the merger a few months ago, Zimberg said.
Read Also
Weigum’s work with Alect Seeds earns her Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer award
Three Hills farmer earns Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmers award through marketing of Alect Seeds to bring the best varieties and crop types to their customers and improve the quality of the land they farm.
The Union of Manitoba Municipalities is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its annual convention in November. The new association, to be called the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, would then officially take over in January 1999.
If the merger goes through as planned, both groups should expect some resistance, warns one rural development expert.
“It will depend if they can unify inside the organization and come out with a single voice,” said Richard Rounds with Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute.
“I think probably a concern will be on other issues that are specific to either the town or the rural and that association would have to present both equally.”
The problem could be addressed if the new organization is made up of two caucuses, one representing rural and the other speaking for urban issues. But that won’t be decided until UMM’s vote goes through.
Jerome Mauws, executive director of UMM, said his organization has been dealing with that issue for 40 years.
Back in the 1950s, a splinter group that later became MAUM broke off from UMM. However, it didn’t take all urban governments with it. Portage la Prairie, for example, does not belong to MAUM. UMM members include 118 rural municipalities and 54 urban ones. MAUM represents only urban municipalities but not all of them.
“We’re dealing with the conflict over rural and urban issues at our table now, so we might as well all be in one organization,” Mauws said.
Both Zimberg and Mauws say the most common concern is that smaller towns and RMs will be swallowed up by the bigger centres.
“They’re mostly worried they’re going to get lost in a larger organization, but as a larger organization we will have the resources to deal with all the issues,” Mauws said.
On the surface, smaller rural municipalities have the most to lose, Zimberg said, but they will actually outnumber urbans on the new board. There are 82 towns, villages and cities in Manitoba and 120 rural municipalities.
“Everyone’s hoping common sense will prevail and they’ll see the big picture rather than the parochial picture,” Zimberg said.
“It’s got to be what’s good for the whole province rather than just what’s good in my own backyard.”
According to Rounds, the push toward amalgamation of the two associations in Manitoba is part of a Canadian trend to municipal restructuring.
“Years ago this wouldn’t even have been talked about, but because of the offloading of the government, all municipalities are feeling the pinch,” he said.
“This is not acute, it’s chronic. That’s why it is slow. Plus rural folks will also have to be convinced there is something to be gained.”
Link with communities
But there’s something else behind the trend.
Rounds said the fact more farmers are forced to find a supplementary income to keep the farm going has changed the way they define their communities. There is a recognition that there are much closer ties between the farm community and towns than there used to be.
In fact, there are several cases in Manitoba where mergers are being considered between two rural RMs or an RM and a town.
Taxpayers in southwestern Manitoba will vote this year on a proposed merger between Killarney and the RM of Turtle Mountain in the southwestern corner of the province.
“It’s a landmark because out of this process will come where you gain and where you lose and then you may see programs offered that help offset the gains and losses,” said Rounds.
Manitoba is the first prairie province to amalgamate rural and urban municipal associations.
The plan is for an interim board to run the association, expected to have a budget of about $1 million, at the start of the new year. Elections for the new board would take place in June 1999. The associations have decided the new office will be in Portage la Prairie.
