The Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario Royal Canadian Legion convention begins today in Winnipeg, and continues until Monday morning.

Three members of the Portage Legion Branch 65 are there, including President Bob Oldford. He says it begins this morning with a ceremony at Brookside Cemetery, with the real work starting this afternoon.

"We'll be working on policies within the Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario provincial Command," he says, "Voting on a new executive to run the Command for the next two years. And various other things that are coming up provincially -- resolutions, things like that."

Oldford feels it's important for a large branch like Portage.

"It's really important that we have a say on the provincial level, as to what's happening," he says, "We're over 500 strong, and that's a fair sized Legion, in comparison to some of the smaller ones around the province. It's necessary for us to make sure that what happens at the provincial and at the federal levels, have some input from us."

He adds the branch's input at the convention isn't all that's important.

"But also to find out what's happening at other Legions," he says, "Things that they're trying that perhaps are rejuvenating membership, or bringing more attention to the concerns of the Legion, which are veterans and the community. And they may have some new ideas, and new thoughts, so it's also a chance to share those with others."