In March, the leadership team of the Association of Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (AMBM) continued its meetings with several leaders from member municipalities as part of its strategic tour. The purpose of this tour is to enable the AMBM to better identify member priorities in order to guide and adapt its strategic actions. This second progress update highlights the key findings and collaboration pathways that emerged from these exchanges:
During the month of March, the rural municipalities of Alexander and Saint-Laurent hosted the AMBM’s leadership team as part of this strategic tour, linked to the implementation of the Municipal Maturity Model (3M).
In the context of significant growth among Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities, strengthening the tools that support their development has become essential. In this regard, the 3M stands out as a strategic planning and development lever, designed to support and structure the evolution of these Manitoba municipalities.
Essential Infrastructure Under Pressure
Across the province, Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities are facing major challenges related to essential infrastructure, even as needs continue to grow.
Roads, bridges, drinking water networks and wastewater treatment facilities are reaching a critical point, a direct consequence of aging infrastructure.
In some communities, lagoon systems have reached maximum capacity, including those that were modernised only recently. Added to this are new provincial phosphorus standards, which further intensify pressure on already overstretched infrastructure and require urgent and costly interventions.
These challenges are exacerbated by the complexity and slow pace of federal funding processes. Administrative delays undermine municipalities’ ability to plan effectively in the medium and long term. These issues and associated investments have a direct impact on residents’ quality of life, community safety, and equitable access to public services.
In response to this reality, Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities are reaffirming their commitment to adopting a proactive and structured approach to planning. They are seeking to anticipate infrastructure needs by relying on concrete tools such as the 3M, climate change adaptation plans, and a longer-term vision better aligned with local realities.
Investments already made in public services—including fire trucks and fire stations, public works, libraries and telecommunications—demonstrate this commitment to improving services for residents, supporting economic development, and strengthening the attractiveness and vitality of their communities.
The AMBM will continue to work with its provincial and federal partners to ensure that funding programs and mechanisms better reflect the reality and urgency of the needs of bilingual municipalities.
The Challenge of Being a Municipal Leader
As a municipal election approaches, Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities are also observing increasing pressure on elected officials and municipal employees, in a context where harassment and intimidation are becoming increasingly concerning.
These behaviours, sometimes aggressive in nature, now extend beyond simple disagreement and create a significant human and organisational burden for municipal councils and administrative staff.
This reality not only compromises the well-being of those serving their communities, but also weakens municipalities’ ability to ensure healthy, stable and sustainable local governance—the very foundation of our local democratic life.
Intergovernmental Collaboration and Recognition of Municipal Commitment
The municipalities consulted also reaffirmed their desire to work closely with other orders of government in order to contribute tangibly to the achievement of provincial and national priorities.
Rooted at the heart of their territories, they play a critical role in Manitoba’s economic, social and cultural vitality—whether in regional development, resource management, local service delivery or sustainable community planning. The AMBM and its members favour an approach based on intergovernmental collaboration, ongoing dialogue and partnership, convinced that lasting solutions to today’s challenges can only emerge through coordinated efforts that respect local realities.
In this spirit, the AMBM highlighted the commitment of the municipalities visited by presenting them with a recognition plaque. This symbolic gesture underscores their status as official members and their commitment to delivering municipal services in both official languages, in accordance with the adoption of their 3M-related by-law—a cornerstone of inclusive, forward-looking governance.
The AMBM will continue the tour in the coming months to meet with all bilingual municipalities and to pursue this essential work.
About the AMBM
The AMBM is the voice of bilingual municipal leadership in the province of Manitoba. It represents 16 municipal governments committed to offering services in both official languages to their residents. Together, these municipalities represent the majority of Manitoba’s population. Manitoba’s bilingual municipal leadership also leads the AMBM Group, a consortium of three organizations with complementary mandates: the AMBM, the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba, or CDEM) and Eco-West Canada (EWC), which specializes in the green economy. Complementing each other, these three organizations actively contribute to the development, vitality and sustainability of the province’s Official Language Minority Communities (OLMC) and the province as a whole.
Information: Office of the Chief Executive Officer (O-CEO), 204-289-4077, bcdd-oceo@ambm.ca.
