Since the news broke from the Manitoba Government that the Agassiz Youth Centre (AYC) would be closing, it has become a hot-button topic in Portage la Prairie.

We have heard the reaction from community members, Mayor Ferris, and now, MLA Ian Wishart is chiming in about the closure which he says concerns him.

"My heart goes out to those that are going to have to look for jobs in different places. Everyone was supposed to be offered a position, was my understanding, and I hope that works out for them, but I think we all know that it's been pretty empty the last couple of years, running at about 30 per cent of the capacity. There's an announcement coming today (Friday, March 25) on a Medicine Lodge in Thompson. Many of the people that were residents in the Agassiz Youth Center here were from the north, and that probably makes more sense for them."

Wishart mentions a movement the government has been seeing.

"There's certainly been a long-term trend for lower incarceration rates with youth. It doesn't seem to work particularly well, and there's data to back that up. So, this is a response to the ongoing trends in the justice system and an attempt to prevent more issues arising in the future."

He says that some of the Agassiz site will be used for the new hospitals construction and what remains will have to go through a process that will become available in the future.

"I think we're all looking forward to the new hospital, which will be substantially larger than the older hospital."

Wishart notes that there are currently 350 employees at the hospital and says 200 more jobs will be added with this new facility.

He talks about staff at AYC finding out about this closure from social media, but he notes many were aware this could be coming.

"Certainly, it was out on the news feeds social media a little bit before they met with the staff, and of course, any staff who weren't there that day probably did get the information off the social media, but they were basically informed within half an hour of one another. But it is not the way you want to get the news, off social media. I think that we do certainly owe them a face-to-face explanation as to what's going on. I know that many staff were very aware of the ongoing trends in the industry that they're part of, and they were not surprised, I suspect."

Wishart touches on the fact that this is the second big announcement about government building shutting down in as many years in Portage, with the Manitoba Developmental Centre (MDC) announcement coming last year & AYC this year.

"Both those things would have been longstanding stalwarts in our community. Both are areas where services have changed. Much more is done in the community, particularly for the likes of the residents of MDC; those with the challenges are now dealt with in the community, and we're seeing a lot of that actually in the justice system as well. They're better off being supported by people in their community. So, it is the reality of the long-term trends and changes in how we deal with these things in society. And I guess we're victims of the times in some ways with that, but we've been fortunate enough to attract other businesses to Portage la Prairie."

The Portage MLA wrapped up the conversation by stating that Portage's economy will continue to truck along and move forward.