Financial compensation has been offered to six Southeast municipalities by Manitoba Hydro in regards to the Manitoba-Minnesota Transmission Project (MMTP).

These municipalities include Springfield, Tache, Ste. Anne, Stuartburn, Piney, and La Broquerie. Bruce Owen is a public affairs officer with Manitoba Hydro. Owen says the six municipalities are being offered a combined $4.27-million in land compensation, money he notes was in the project budget and is to be used by the communities for improvement.

La Broquerie reeve Lewis Weiss says, as a representative of the community, he wants to vote with the majority of the municipal population. 

"If the people don't want it there then I don't want it there," notes Weiss. "If now because there's a large sum of money being offered everyone is great with it, then I guess I'll be great with it as well. At the end of the day, I don't want to accept something, no matter how much money is changing hands, if it will harm the people. That's my feeling on it."

The RM of Tache looks to be receiving $675,000 if the project is approved, La Broquerie has declined comment on the amount offered to their municipality but Weiss says it's more than what was offered to Tache.

Owen adds land compensation and tower construction is all dependent on whether or not the transmission project is approved by Manitoba Sustainable Development and the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission (CEC) has yet to hold hearings and submit a report to the Minister of Sustainable Development.

Serge Scrafield is the chair of the Manitoba CEC. Scrafield says through the month of May they will be holding hearings in various communities along the transmission project line to collect information and write a report for the minister, which may include observations and recommendations.

Scrafield notes, after the report is submitted, a license by the department needs to be issued before Manitoba Hydro is allowed to proceed with the project. During the hearings, he says they open the floor to anyone who would like to make comments.

"Generally, we're asked to look at environmental issues. Environmental, by that I include socioeconomic issues as well. We will look at those as they're raised, of course, by the public and by the participants in the process. Once we've heard all of that, then we would comment. What we won't be looking at is, perhaps, some of the financial matters that were already looked at by the Public Utilities Board."

He says the Manitoba CEC has a legal requirement to submit the report within 90 days of the closing of the hearings, which would be around the beginning of September.

Weiss notes, he still has concerns about the MMTP going forward. He says these concerns include interrupting farmland and proximity to residential areas.

"The schools are there and I assume these lines will last a very, very long time. In the future, one day, we may have a population of six, ten, or 20 thousand people in the Town of La Broquerie and there could be a hospital. Hydro assures us verbally that those lines don't hurt anybody. We asked if they would be putting that on a contract and I believe they said no."

Owen says this project will allow Manitoba Hydro to export a commodity which is desired by the United States market, and it will help keep rates lower for Manitobans. 

"Between 2007 and 2016, export sales in that time period contributed $4.2-billion or 25% of our total revenue. Exports are 25%, industrial sales makes up roughly 44%, and then 31% are from residential or the Manitoba domestic market. By bringing that money in [from exports], without those revenues, all those costs associated with our utility would need to be covered by our Manitoba customers. So, the benefit of the MMTP is it allows us to sell more energy to the U.S."

Weiss encourages those in the area to attend the Manitoba CEC hearings, set to take place on May 25 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and May 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the La Broquerie Hylife Centre.

He adds, speaking as a resident of the community and a hydro customer, he is not in favour of land compensation because, in the end, rate hikes will be the solution to paying for those costs. Weiss says there were rate hikes last year and has heard of more to come. Owen notes Manitoba Hydro is meeting with the Public Utilities Board next month to request a rate increase above the 4% requested last year.