The City Caucus is part of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities and made up of the ten mayors from ten cities in the province.

Mayor Irvine Ferris explains a recent concern that they discussed, and how it affects Portage. 

"Two of the discussions centered on a couple of the resolutions that will be brought forward to our convention in November," says Ferris. "The City of Dauphin and the City of Selkirk have co-sponsored a resolution of maintaining public services in local communities. Part of the background on this -- probably everybody knows -- is that Dauphin had a huge impact when the province set down their provincial jail there earlier this spring."

He notes that the Mayor from Dauphin spoke about the impact on their local economy. He noted that real estate prices dropped, people moved away, and kids were being pulled out of school. 

"As Provincial Crown Agency Health Services are being removed and reallocated from municipalities and centralized within the city of Winnipeg, that has a negative impact, certainly, on the level of service to the people that live outside of the city of Winnipeg, but also a really negative impact on those local economies," adds Ferris. "For Portage, of course, people have heard me talk about the future of MDC."

He notes MDC is Portage's third-largest employer at 500 people.

"It puts about $70-million in the local economy," continues Ferris. "The impact on closure of an employer that large, would impact, not only the City of Portage and the RM of Portage la Prairie, but the entire region. We have people from all over the Portage Plains and beyond that work there."