The Rural Municipality of Tache is opting out of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region (WMR), also known as the Capital Planning Region (CPR).

Mayor Armand Poirier says Council voted in favour of this move for the time being. He notes that Council feels this is a necessary move while the organization reconfigures. Poirier says it will also give Council time to reconsider its position with regards to regional planning.

Poirier says Tache is one of several municipalities to pull out in recent months. 

“It’s unrealistic to believe that the plan that might be worked on would be effective, if it doesn’t include all of the municipalities in the capital region,” explains the Tache Mayor. “Because it’s important for everyone to be included in this process.”

Poirier says he wholeheartedly believes that something good could have come out of municipalities working together as part of the WMR. He says he is a believer and a proponent in having a plan for the capital region.

“The reason for that is that Winnipeg is a large entity, and in some cases, has more power than the province,” suggests Poirier. “And if we, the municipalities in the capital region, don’t represent ourselves with regard to issues that we have with the City of Winnipeg, then we’re totally at their mercy, and we’re very vulnerable to what the city would want as far as imposing any legislation on the rural areas.”

Poirier says he thinks that at least half, if not more, of the partnering WMR municipalities have now opted out of the program. Poirier says some municipalities believe that being part of the plan means giving up their autonomy. 

“But I disagree with that viewpoint,” shares Poirier. “Because I think that if we want to maintain our autonomy, we have to work together as municipalities to provide a plan that is going to be suitable for rural areas.”

Poirier says he had been a board member for three years, but recognized some difficulties with the governance model, especially with regard to Plan20-50. This plan was aimed at setting out planning and guidelines for infrastructure such as roads, housing and transit, and helping communities collaborate on economic development. In late 2024, members of the WMR voted not to move forward with Plan20-50. The proposed regional planning framework would have been for Winnipeg and 17 surrounding municipalities. 

Poirier says for more than a year now, it has felt like efforts at the WMR level were more on resetting the plan than on settling the governance issues that he thinks needed to be sorted through before resetting the plan.

“I don’t have any misgivings about Council having decided not to continue participating in this until the provincial government makes a decision as to how we should proceed with this,” notes Poirier.

Poirier says he supports Council’s decision to opt out.Â