St-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba – When the path to sustainability leads to funding opportunities

How do you reduce energy consumption, save money and access funding more easily? If you’re a village like St-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba, you find partners like Eco-West Canada and QUEST Canada who have the tools and resources you need to stretch your dollars and staff hours, and make things happen.

Tina Bubenzer is the Chief Administrative Officer of the village of 1,300 residents located just south of Winnipeg. She’s one of only three office staff, so there’s a lot on her plate – including advancing the community’s sustainability initiatives.

“St-Pierre-Jolys completed a Climate Change Local Action Plan about a decade ago,” she recalls, “but it stalled before much got done.”

That happened for a variety of reasons: lack of funding; lack of resources in the small municipality; and lack of support in the community and on council.

“It had an ambitious Vision and Mission, but perhaps it was a bit before its time.”

One other reason also factored in. “Not everyone understands the benefits of efficiency; some people perceive efficiency upgrades as costs rather than investments in future savings, so it can be a hard sell.”

That has sensitized Tina to the need to always demonstrate and communicate clear benefits when proposing sustainability actions. It’s a lens she brings to two constant priorities: complementing that past Local Action Plan with a near-future Community Energy and Emissions Plan, and at the same time, overseeing the development of a new community recreation and wellness complex.

Eco-West helps fill that gap

To achieve its local climate action goals alongside its multiple competing priorities, St-Pierre-Jolys has partnered with Eco-West Canada, a Winnipeg-based not-for-profit organization that promotes sustainable economic development in rural municipalities.

“Unlike larger centers, small rural communities usually don’t have the capacity or budgets to develop and implement sustainability plans, or to hire the expertise required,” says Dany Robidoux, Executive Director of Eco-West Canada. “So we help fill that gap.”

Eco-West is the only organization of its kind on the Prairies. It works with over 50 small municipalities, and has relationships with utilities, efficiency agencies and governments.

“You could call us a capacity enabler,” smiles Dany. “We help communities develop their CEEPs, and then we help them access funding to implement priority actions.”

Tools key parts of success

Tried, tested and trued tools and resources from QUEST Canada are key parts of Eco-West’s recipe for success, complementing their ability to be cost-effective when serving their client communities.

“They help our clients in three big ways,” Dany shares. “First, templates are a cost-effective way for communities to develop their own comprehensive CEEPs, without the need for expensive outside experts. Those significant savings have proven to be really helpful in opening doors and getting communities interested.”

Second, QUEST’s Prairies-focused Working Group peer-to-peer meetings and professional education webinars help create regional synergies. “The networking and sharing of real-life expertise are priceless. There’s strength in numbers!”

Third, the Net-Zero Communities Program is helping municipalities enormously with their funding applications.

“The process of applying for funding can be very arduous,” Dany explains. “Too often, information is requested that a small municipality would have a really tough time providing.”

On the other hand, Community Energy Emissions Plans built on tried and trued templates often already contain that information, saving municipalities both time and money. “Professionalism matters,” Dany adds. “And well-crafted CEEPs are great tools for enabling funding success.”

Tina Bubenzer adds a further unexpected benefit from her perspective as village CAO. “In our world, priorities can sometimes change unexpectedly on short notice, so you need to be able to pivot quickly, a bit like a chameleon.” When such pivots are required, Tina now has someone to turn to for help, to activate the resources the climate action situation needs.

First focus on the arena

And, as noted earlier, Tina’s learned from her own experience the importance of demonstrating benefits when seeking support. Case in point: the village’s first focus on the arena. “It’s an iconic piece of our heritage here, built by volunteers 70 years ago,” she relates. “But it’s a pretty basic building, essentially a rink with a roof over it. So, there’s a need for a lot of energy efficiency work, but with a lot of potential for savings.”

The first upgrade was replacing old lighting with new LEDs, with support from Efficiency Manitoba. It turned out to be an easy sell to the community, and is delivering the promised savings.

“Next, we need to insulate the whole building, so the ice plant has to work less on days when the temperature outside is above zero,” she says. “After that, we want to capture the heat coming off of the ice plant and direct it to heat parts of the arena. It’s a win-win!”

Project leads to growth and renewal

Indeed, ‘Le Rendez-Vous’ project, as they call it in St-Pierre-Joly, was recently awarded a $5 million dollar grant by the Province of Manitoba’s Growth, Renewal, and Opportunities for Municipalities Program. The funding will enable the village to move forward with the signature project that will integrate the arena, a community hall, a library and several existing outdoor recreational facilities.

“We have a waitlist for more than 100 daycare spaces, so we’re going to build a facility to accommodate that need,” Tina explains. “The new library will include a large multipurpose room that will be used for everything from card parties to pickleball to trade shows. And linking everything will be a big, bright vestibule that will serve as a community gathering space.”

With everything being built to a high standard of energy efficiency, and construction planned to start in 2026, Tina will no doubt remain excited about sustainable developments in her community, and the accompanying potential benefits.

“If you can access a partner that has resources that can help you, use them! In our case, that’s Eco-West and QUEST.”

“Be open-minded; think big! Don’t be afraid to try new things – and be ready to learn as you go.”

About QUEST Canada

QUEST Canada is a registered Canadian charity that supports communities in Canada on their pathway to net-zero. Since 2007, we’ve been facilitating connections, empowering community champions and advising decision-makers to implement energy use and emissions reduction solutions that best meet community needs and maximize local opportunities. We develop tools and resources, convene stakeholders and rights holders, and advise decision-makers — all with the goal of encouraging, assisting and enabling communities to contribute to Canada’s net-zero goals.