AMM President Chris Goertzen speaks at the Municipal Officials Seminar in Brandon Tuesday.

The President of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities says they hope to get more information from the province Thursday about how it will handle proceeds from the sale of marijuana when it becomes legal later this year. Steinbach Mayor Chris Goertzen says cabinet ministers will attend their Municipal Officials Seminar in Brandon and municipalities are keen to find out what the plans are.

"The biggest question on all municipalities minds, whether it's going to be actually sold in a retail establishment or not in their community, is the covering of the costs that they are going to incur when it comes to policing, when it comes to training and when it comes to enforcement of bylaws. We want to make sure that the government shares those excise taxes with municipalities. We've asked them specifically for 33 percent of those and we expect a good partnership with the provincial government to deal with these challenges ahead."

Meanwhile, Goertzen says municipalities at the Brandon meeting are continuing to lobby for a revised funding split in the next infrastructure program. AMM is pressing for the federal and provincial governments to each pay 40 percent with municipalities covering the remaining 20 percent. He explains that's because municipalities have over 50 percent of the public infrastructure but only take in eight cents of every tax dollar.

Goertzen notes on Tuesday, the AMM meeting heard from Manitoba Infrastructure that it is embarking on a complete review of its programs. He adds municipalities are both supportive and nervous about that review.

"This is a significant review. When it comes to roads, when it comes to highways, when it comes to drainage and provincial drains in Manitoba, there's a lot of infrastructure that certainly needs attention. That is looked after in a variety of ways. To ask the question of how it gets taken care of is appropriate. Municipalities welcome that. At the same time, there is some anxiety among municipalities, thinking that there might be a possible download here from the provincial government to municipalities when they already don't have enough means to cover their own infrastructure. I think this is an important discussion, first of all, to talk about how to deliver services to our citizens better but, at the same time be cost-effective and make sure that adequate dollars are put forward so that we can have great infrastructure and grow our economy."