Ritchot council convened for their bimonthly meeting on December 2 with a variety of topics on the agenda.
Crime Stats
Staff Sargeant Ron Poirier joined council virtually to provide an overview of the quarterly crime stats for the period of July through September. To date, he says, there have been seven checkstop campaigns, run mostly in St. Adolphe and Île-des-Chênes (IDC).
These checkstops are part of the detachment’s short-term enforcement programs (STEPs), operating for short periods of time (30-minute increments) but in more locations.
“We’re finding, with the advent of social media and all the ways to communicate today, our checkstop [locations] get shared really quickly and then we find our numbers are kind of dropping,” Poirier said.
Provincial traffic offences were down across all parts of Ritchot, he said, while incidents of causing a disturbance and disobeying court orders were up in both St. Adolphe and IDC.
Overall, there was a drop in crimes committed against persons, except for IDC, which had a number of situations involving harassment and assault.
“The most interesting one for me was property crime,” Poirier said. “The increase in the RM is all related to thefts.”
As for Ste. Agathe, Poirier says his detachment is looking forward to seeing the bridge reconstruction completed.
“It continues to hinder our travel, but we haven’t had any serious situations yet,” he said.
Councillor Janine Boulanger reminded Poirier that drag-racing continues to be a problem along Waverley Road, west of the Red River.
“There’s constant speeding and they stole our speed reader sign,” Boulanger told Poirier. “[This area] is a gold mine. If you guys wanted to sit there, you’ll make a lot of money. I see on your stats that there’s an actual decrease in offences there, but I just wonder if you guys haven’t been there.”
Bilingual Daycares and Libraries
Madeleine Arbez, executive director of CDEM, also joined council virtually, there to introduce a French daycare provider interested in offering bilingual services in Ritchot.
“French daycare in Île-des-Chênes would meet a need,” Arbez said. “It’s infrastructure that favours employment for educators and parents, it’s an attraction factor for new families, and it’s a long-term investment into the community fabric.”
French daycare programs, she added, are supported both provincially and federally if Ritchot would like to consider them.
At the same time, council voted unanimously in favour of declining an opportunity to join the southeast Manitoba regional library collaborative.
According to CAO Shane Ray, Councillor Jason Bodnarchuk and the Ritchot library director met with representatives from the regional library initiative, which includes communities like Ste. Anne, Piney, and Niverville.
“There are a number of concerns regarding the current or future level of bilingual services that the new regional library may or may not be able to provide,” Ray told council.
Instead it was recommended that Ritchot’s council reach out to the Association of Bilingual Municipalities in order to gauge their interest in the idea of a regional library shared between bilingual communities.
“I think it would be a better fit for regionalization,” Bodnarchuk told council. “We’d have a bit more control over the bilingual aspect of it.”
John Q Public and the Ritchot Rail Park
Following Mayor Chris Ewen’s decision not to run in the upcoming municipal election, Deputy Mayor Shane Pelletier was appointed by council to take Ewen’s place on the board of John Q Public Inc.
John Q Public advertises itself as a voluntary municipal participation corporation formed in 2018 to support growth and infrastructure development in the Winnipeg Metro Region.
According to Ray, John Q purchased about 1,000 acres in Ritchot several years ago. The land, purchased directly from a local farmer, is located west of Highway 75 and immediately south of Victory Lane Speedway.
The purpose of the acquisition was to construct a rail park similar to that of CentrePort, northwest of Winnipeg. In 2023, the province approved $18 million in funding for John Q to secure the land in Ritchot.
According to the John Q Public website, the location will be designed to improve connections from Manitoba businesses to global markets.
“This location is close to major sources of grain and minerals, two drivers of Manitoba’s economy,” the corporation’s website states. “Crucially, it is situated along some of the most strategically significant trade corridors in North America, offers unique access to three class-1 railways, and can directly connect to highways to further link key supply and consumption markets.”
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Ray confirmed the significant opportunity posed by the rail park for the RM’s commercial and industrial development.
“The RM of Ritchot, in the form of a grant, will share 50 percent of the taxes collected with John Q,” Ray says. “This grant will be distributed equally from John Q directly between the shareholders [municipalities] that are part of John Q. It’s important to note that this will only occur after any Ritchot development expenses are covered and only once the rail park development is ongoing.”
At the December 2 meeting, council was faced with another decision regarding the rail park. That decision revolved around the wording of a document created by John Q Public which gives council the opportunity to contribute to onsite infrastructure upgrades if they so choose.
Council voted unanimously in favour of leaving the wording as proposed and using any future development agreement to negotiate terms.