The RM of Cartier's providing a boost to the municipality's community clubs. Yesterday morning's meeting saw Council approve grants of almost $50,000 for the clubs throughout their region. Reeve Dale Fossay notes it's an annual allocation, that helps support those services without reaching into the tax payers' pockets.

"Annually the municipality of Cartier supports the community clubs in Elie, St. Eustache, and some of the smaller ones with some operating money to help them keep the buildings up to date. We usually give an amount equivalent to the money received from the province from VLT rebates. That amounts to about $49,000 this year, so we distributed that to different community clubs in our municipality."

Fossay says with the number of aging recreation buildings in the municipality, it's important Council plays a role in supporting those services. He notes the VLT rebate is usually around $50,000, and while it's not earmarked for recreation, Council feels it's the best use of those dollars.

"Our community, like many others, has aging buildings. They take more and more care to keep them up to date, hopefully make some small improvements. That workload is huge for anyone, and certainly if we can make the life of the volunteers a bit easier by reducing that financial burden, it's worthwhile to help them out."

He notes the annual allocation can go a long way to ensuring the community clubs are able to continue to operate in the RM of Cartier.