A roundtable discussion was hosted yesterday at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities' office in Portage la Prairie, between federal Rural Economic Development Minister Bernadette Jordan, and representatives from the City of Portage la Prairie, the RM of Rhineland, RM of Ritchot, and the Town of Stonewall.

It focused on municipal concerns such as aging infrastructure, better Internet access, and rural policing costs.

Minister Jordan says she gained a lot for her report.

"The people who know, who are on the ground, the people who are in rural Canada are the ones who are going to be driving this report," she says, "I'm putting it together, but hearing them, and what their challenges are, what's working for them, what their successes are, how we as a government can help them move forward, is what I need to hear."

The Rural Economic Development portfolio is a new cabinet post and Jordan says she wants to see it grow.

"We have a rural caucus that's very active," she says, "And they've been saying for years that we needed a rural lens on things. When we talk about immigration, a lot of people think in terms of cities. But we need immigrants in rural Canada. We want to make sure that when we look at any policy or any law that we develop, that we look at it through a rural perspective."

Jordan represents a rural riding and says she knows how important the federal government is for those areas.

"With offices (like Service Canada) -- I want to keep those in rural Canada," she stresses, "I think it's really important. There used to be a rural secretariat under Agriculture, and it was cancelled in 2012, and there has not been a rural lens on things since then. So we want to make sure that we've got that moving forward."

AMM Vice-president Kam Blight feels optimistic moving forward with the new department.

"It's kind of nice that there is a distinction between rural and urban is being set up," he says, "And it shows that the rural municipalities and rural communities have different challenges than rural centres."

Minister Jordan calls the roundtable interesting.

"We recognize that rural is different from urban," she says, "And that the challenges faced here are different. And we've been doing a lot to invest in rural Canada, with our infrastructure program, with our housing program, with our connect to innovate program. But what we have to do is how do we pull it all together, and make sure that we have one economic strategy that's going to build this country."

Brad Braun, deputy reeve for the Municipality of Rhineland, feels it's important to keep in touch with higher levels of government and said these meetings offer federal exposure that municipalities don't always get.

"It would be nice for us to have a little more regular contact...just to see where things are at, what kind of programs are out there and how do we access them," he explained.

During his presentation, Braun highlighted connectivity, economic development, and infrastructure as municipal priorities.

Brad Braun, deputy reeve for the Municipality of Rhineland