From The Portage Daily Graphic. ( Check out the link for a picture, this is the closest these guys ever get to real work )

With scenic Crescent Lake as a backdrop, officials from all three levels of government met at the fairgrounds on Island Park in Portage la Prairie Monday to announce funding for the PCU Centre, and officially turn sod on the project.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer, along with Vic Toews, president of the Treasury Board, on behalf of Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Western Economic Diversification, Rona Ambrose, Portage Mayor Ken Brennan, and Toby Trimble, Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Portage, made the announcement to the crowd of nearly 200 people gathered at the future site of the sports multiplex.

The $35.7 million project will receive $10 million through the Canada-Manitoba Municipal Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) and an additional $1.7 million is being provided from the province’s Building Manitoba Fund.

The $10 million MRIF contribution is split equally between the three levels of government, and no new funding was announced at the ceremony.

Mayor Brennan said he was thankful to see the funding from the provincial and federal governments confirmed at the ceremony, and is eager to see construction get under way.

“We made a giant step forward today,” he said. “Turning the sod is ceremonial, but it does mean something.

“The project is going to go, it’s going to be successful and we’re going to have a great recreational multiplex.”