The Mayor for Ritchot says he is both humbled and honoured to have had ten minutes with a federal minister.

Bernadette Jordan was recently appointed Minister of Rural Economic Development. She made a stop in Manitoba last week. During her stay, the Rural Municipality of Ritchot was given a ten minute slot to sit down with her to discuss strengths and concerns.

Chris Ewen says the two sides discussed strong economic drivers.

"We talked about some of the local businesses that went from zero to sixty in a matter of a few years," says Ewen. "Like our great Bold Commerce that became a fifty million dollar company."

Ewen says another example is Hemp Oil Canada, which started off as a small business in Ste. Agathe.

Ewen says one of the concerns that came up had to do with St. Adolphe being located along the Red River and how this impacts commercial business. Another concern had to do with Main Street revitalization in their communities.

"With the different levels of government owning the road and then trying to get some funding in place, it's a very hard thing to tackle," he says. "But the Minister listened and we're going to be connecting in the next future weeks here and finding some opportunities for that."

Ewen says she seems interested in having the three levels of government working together to ensure a sustainable Main Street revitalization program happens much sooner than anticipated.

Because this is a new position, Ewen says he got the sense Minister Jordan was here mostly to listen. He notes Ritchot connects very well with Member of Parliament Ted Falk, but this was a great opportunity in having the ear of a a federal minister.