REGINA – A disgruntled rural municipality in southwestern Manitoba wants to secede from the province and join Saskatchewan.

Representatives from the R-M of Glenwood say they don’t agree with the N-D-P government’s plan to save money by amalgamating municipalities with fewer than one-thousand residents.

“We feel like we are being ignored by the provincial government in Manitoba, they don’t seem to be paying any attention to what we feel is the right thing and they are trying to forced amalgamation on us in a very limited time schedule,” said Walter Finlay, a councilor for the R-M of Glenwood.

Finlay added the R-M’s administration costs are already low, and amalgamation would drive them up. Their feeling is that the province doesn’t care about the western half of Manitoba. .

“It appears we have more in common with Saskatchewan then we have with the city of Winnipeg which controls ¾ of the power of the province,” Finley added.

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The reaction in the R-M of Glenwood about joining Saskatchewan is about a 50-50 split over the idea, but realistically, Finley doesn’t see this idea happening anytime soon.

“What we are hoping this will do is at least wake up the Manitoba government so they know were serious out here and they have to start paying more attention to us,” Finley said.

with files from The Canadian Press