The City of Dauphin put out a news release detailing a recent meeting with several Parkland municipal leaders, and both Federal MP Dan Mazier and Provincial MLA Ron Kostyshyn, about ongoing flood recovery efforts, the need for long term solutions, and shared challenges.
David Bosiak, City of Dauphin Mayor, said when the City found that Dauphin is now included in the Manitoba Flood Recovery Program, along with other municipalities and cities in the Parkland, it was a step in the right direction, but when it comes to shared concerns like the Dauphin Regional Health Centre's closure, there's still a way to go.
"The Province, when they made their announcment to include Dauphin and communities in our immediate area in their funding relief program is really good news for the folks that maybe [were] underinsured, or aren't fully able to access all of the DFA funding, so it's another layer of protection and support for folks in town...I think the hospital obiously is the greatest concern for all of us, and that the length of time that it'll be down is the issue that we're in constant communication with Prairie Mountain Health and Shared Health, so that's a big concern," said Bosiak.
In the news release, the Parkland's municipalities outlined the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, Long-Term Flood Mitigation, and Agricultural Recovery as their top concerns. For Bosiak and the City of Dauphin, agricultural damages don't just affect farmers, they affect the City's economy. Bosiak said a very large part of Dauphin's businesses rely on farmers and agriculture producers.
"Farmers are the biggest stimulus for Dauphin and area in terms of purchases and keeping the economy going, so when they're hurting, we're all hurting," said Bosiak.
The Parkland's municipalities will continue to push for continued support for affected farmers and agriculture producers. Manitoba's Agriculture Minister and Dauphin MLA Ron Kostyshyn recently made a huge step in that support, announcing expansions to Manitoba's AgriStability program, in partnership with the Federal Government.
To give a better picture of the scale of damages the Parkland faced when it comes to municipal infrastructure, the news release says there are more than 1,584 damaged infrastructure sites across the region, with more being discovered with ongoing assessments. Bosiak said all things considered, the City got pretty lucky with relatively small damages to infrastructure that's under their jurisdiction.
"We aren't like the Rural Municipality of Dauphin that had over 200 different washouts or concerns on their grid road system, so we were lucky, other than the hospital which isn't in our jurisdiction," said Bosiak.
Prairie Mountain Health and Shared Health have been in constant communication with both the City and RM of Dauphin about the Dauphin Regional Health Centre. In the meantime, they have expanded the capabilities of nearby emergency rooms in Ste. Rose and Grandview.
