The Manning Canal, east of Hershfeld has become overgrown.

The City of Steinbach wants to make improvements to the Manning Canal on the east side of Hershfeld Road, just east of the city.

Chief administrative officer Jack Kehler says they have received approval from the RM of La Broquerie to talk to 4 landowners in the area to see if they'd sell some of their property, along the canal, to the city. He explains, "We've worked on this for about 3 or 4 years to get it to this stage. It's going to be at least 3 or 4 years before anything is done. But one of the objectives is to try and acquire some property so that the drain actually can be widened. And I believe there's 4 property owners that the city has contacted to see if there's opportunity to buy some of their land up in the front."

Kehler tells us the Manning Canal is in terrible shape there. He says, "It hasn't been maintained by the province for decades. It's in bad shape. We have issues with the road slumping into the ditch. The ditch is not wide enough. It can't be maintained. Our future vision is that we are going to try and widen the canal so we have an easier maintenance and that we can also wide the road allowance."