No relief in sight for northerners calling for rest stops on road to Thompson

If nature calls on the way to Thompson, drivers may have to wait hundreds of kilometres before they can answer.

That's not good enough for one Thompson city councillor, who is speaking out against the provincial government effectively telling travellers and tourists to hold it in while cruising Highway 6.

The province told council earlier this month it wasn't planning to do anything about the shortage of highway rest stops on the drive.

Coun. Jeff Fountain said there's now only one place to do your business along the 500-kilometre stretch of highway — in Grand Rapids — after the Ponton service station burned down last summer at the junction with Highway 39.

Lack of stops a deterrent to tourists

"We want to encourage people to be prepared, of course, to go on a highway that is somewhat isolated," Fountain told CBC Manitoba's Radio Noon host Marjorie Dowhos on Thursday.

"At the same time, the last thing we want to do is sort of encourage people not to come up and visit us."

Colleen Smook, mayor of the city roughly 650 kilometres north of Winnipeg, asked the provincial government to address the lack of restrooms between her city and St. Martin Junction to the south. 

Minister Ron Schuler, in a letter to Smook, acknowledged the highway has few amenities, but said wayside stops are difficult to maintain because of vandalism and cleanliness issues.

He said the province would consider supporting private entities who wanted to build a rest stop, and is willing to amend highway signage to inform motorists of the lack of loos.

"Providing facilities for use by the public at such locations is typically a service that would be provided by the private sector," Schuler's letter said.

But Fountain isn't satisfied by the province's reasoning.

The issue extends beyond the absence of washrooms, but minimal services in general. He spent a night sleeping in his truck on Highway 6 earlier this month because the alternator on his vehicle malfunctioned and no tow truck was near. 

It's hard to convince tourists to visit an area of northern Manitoba trying to brand itself as a tourism hub when service stops are few and far between, Fountain said.

"I think it's very important that we get people from down south appreciating what we've got.

Nothing in return for north: councillor

"We've got hydro development up here and we've taken a lot of the brunt of the social consequences of having that resource development up here," Fountain said. "All of the wealth that we generate seems to be flowing south, with little coming north and we want some consideration with respect to that."

He pointed out the province was willing to change its mind and keep the Pine Grove rest stop open, about 67 kilometres east of Winnipeg, after an outcry from the public. The province had said retrofitting the sewage lagoon would cost too much money at $1.6 million.

"They were looking at closing that one and ended up not doing that," Fountain said. "The services there are 67 kilometres from Winnipeg — we've got stretches of 350 kilometres before you have anything." 

Fountain expects the Ponton service station to be rebuilt eventually, but is not aware of any timeline.

In an emailed statement to CBC Thursday, Schuler wouldn't commit to the province building a restroom, but said he was "willing to have discussions with the private sector and stakeholders in the community to explore options for a suitable solution."