by PAUL RAYNER

For the Association of Manitoba Municipalities and municipal corporations individually, the annual conference is an important part of the year.

The 8th annual AMM Convention was held from November 27-30 in Winnipeg. A combination of guest speakers, discussion and resolution sessions and social gatherings, the convention is held to get the many municipal corporations together in one event for a variety of purposes.

“I thought it went very well this year,” explained Joe Masi, the executive-director of AMM. “It had excellent attendance with more than 1000 delegates, with 1400 at the banquet on Wednesday. I was pleased about the delegates’ comments, and they talked about major issues, the fiscal balance, fire prevention act, water act. I think it went very well.”

In his mind, the convention serves a two-fold purpose. One of those is the resolution session. Individual municipalities, or municipalities together, bring forward resolutions on various topics, which are voted on by delegates. If adopted, they become the focus of the AMM, a sort of municipal “union”, for the coming year. The AMM then works on attaining the proposals through lobbying the different higher levels of government. The resolution sessions allow the organization the opportunity to see what their member corporations see as the key issues and how they want them handled.

“That is where we get ideas on priorities on what municipalities want us to work on for the next year.”

As well, he said the convention allows for the education of its members. Guest speakers help to achieve this. For example, respected Globe and Mail political columnist Jeffery Simpson gave a presentation. As well, the AMM board and staff can also provide a heads up at times on key policies coming down the line. The same can be done by the premier and cabinet ministers, who always attend the events.

Masi added it does give the different councillors an opportunity to network among themselves.

“It’s the one time they get to see one another in one place.”

At the conference, Masi said the delegates chose to re-affirm the importance of more infrastructure funding from both the federal and provincial governments. They had a presentation on the new water protection act, and saw some concern from municipalities, especially smaller ones regarding the ability to pay for any changes like new water plants. The executive director said they would like to have a funding plan in place for these changes. As well, the delegates defeated possible changes to the size and structure of the AMM board.

As Masi put it, AMM has several roles. One of these is, through resolutions from members and their own research, to lobby the government on different issues on behalf of municipalities. He said they have had some success in the past doing so. For example, although more is needed on infrastructure, he said their lobbying has helped get some attention on the issue thus far. They are also still working through the education tax on property issue, succeeding in getting it reduced from farmland and residential property. Most recently, the government has eliminated charges for facility-to-facility ambulance transfers.

“We give the municipalities a voice with government,” Masi explained. “Lobbying is an ongoing thing. Changes don’t come overnight. We work on all resolutions, but some we are more successful on than others. It is ongoing, and we continue to raise issues.”

As well, outside of the resolution realm, they work on government committees and submit proposals on the provincial budget to help advance the needs of municipalities.

They offer professional development opportunities for councillors, and operate a trading company offering things like goods, services and insurance at reduced rates, which helps fund the association.

Masi said this year’s attendance was strong, and often is after an October election, as new councillors want to get directly involved.

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities is nearly a decade old. Previously, there were two organizations. One was the Union of Manitoba Municipalities (UMM) for rural corporations; the other was the Manitoba Association of Urban Municipalities (MAUM) for the urban side. The two interests were merged, and Masi feels it has worked.

“It took the first few years to get the structure in place, but now we are speaking with one voice. In other provinces, they still have two organizations, and they often go to government with different messages. We get everyone together and I think it has worked really well.”

Bob McCallum agrees. The reeve for the RM of Morton, he said he never attended a MAUM conference, but often got the feeling they and the UMM were not always on the same page. The value of one is apparent.

“You get a lot more lobbying power,” McCallum stated, “and this way I think the communication is better. You get 1000 delegates together and they get their heads together and they speak with one voice. That way the government has to pay attention and they do.”

McCallum said the 2006 convention had fewer resolutions than others he has attended. In some cases, such as one Morton shared with the RM of Woodworth and the RM of Riverside regarding re-defining water quality management zones based on current, accurate information, were withdrawn. He feels the smaller resolution package points to something.

“There were about half of the resolutions as in the past. I think that tells us people are fairly satisfied. When you see a lot of resolutions, you see people aren’t settled. They want the rules changed to make their communities better. The way it was this year tells me for the most part people think things are working well.”

“You get the feeling when you go to the convention. You can tell people are bubbly and excited.”

He felt some solid decisions were made, however. One of the ongoing AMM controversies, whether the convention should stay in Winnipeg or continue to rotate between the capital and Brandon, McCallum feels was permanently settled in favour of the rotation. They have been able to continue hammering on infrastructure, and discuss issues like wind power and the algae problem in Lake Winnipeg.

One of the great facets of the convention the reeve said was the opportunity to meet with Premier Doer and his cabinet ministers. Issues like the hog moratorium and the future direction of Hydro could be discussed with the people who make the decisions.

“We had two hours with the premier and cabinet. We were able to debate on the floor with them. Here is the grassroots talking to the top.”

Another positive this year was the early seminar for new councillors. Both Edwin Peters of the RM of Morton and Brenda Nixon of the Town of Boissevain attended, said McCallum, who added he would have liked to have something like that when he started.

“The convention allows us to keep in tune with the moves being made from the Province, the ideas coming from the board, and to have some influence on them.”

It also allows for board elections. President Ron Bell continued, but there were changes in other areas, including a new rural vice president for rural in Dough Dobrowski of the RM of Macdonald and new VP urban in Shirley Kalyniuk of Virden. There were also changes in district representatives.

One who stayed the same was Alan Ransom of the RM of Morton, who is the rural rep for the western district. McCallum said he is the first person from Morton to hold such a position, which he has had since the June district meeting. It is a feather in the cap for the municipality.

“This is very big for the RM and for Boissevain,” McCallum stated. “It gives us a voice on the board, a really positive thing for our community.”

In the end, both Masi and McCallum agree the AMM annual convention is a positive for the province’s municipal corporations.

“It’s very important,” Masi stated. “It gives us some direction from our members, and it gives our members a chance to learn about and discuss the important issues.”

“This was a pretty upbeat convention,” McCallum added. “In the past, you could say ‘they could have left that out’. But you can point that out to the board and that is why the conventions keep getting better.”