Portage la Prairie City Council's sending a letter to the province supporting the efforts of a committee that's trying to keep the Manitoba Developmental Centre operating.

Councillor Wayne Wall thinks many local people don't realize how important the facility is to the city, noting MDC's the third-largest employer in the city.

wayne wall nov182014
Wayne Wall

"The MDC is the third-largest employer in our community. Their payroll is somewhere around $70-million a year. And we're in danger of losing those jobs."

Wall stresses there are plans being formulated for the facility's future.

"We'd like to re-purpose the MDC. There's a committee being headed by Sheldon Hiltz that's doing some very good work looking into what we could do with the MDC. And we'd like all the support we can get from the province."