The Chamber of Commerce for the Rural Municipalities of Reynolds and Whitemouth is pushing for more open communication after being surprised by two major provincial closures in the area.

The Province has announced the Pineland Nursery will be shut down on December 31st and the Pine Grove Rest Area may also be closed in the near future. Chamber Chair Taylor Plett says the nursery has been providing jobs in the area for 65 years and the rest area provides people passing through with a safe place to stop within the municipality. She notes these closures are disheartening.

"I think the general feeling is disappointment. I know the RM is working very hard and we are trying to work with them to establish a new brand for our RM and to attract new people to stop within our RM and visit and hopefully want to move into our RM as well and the province closing these two facilities it kind of puts a damper on the attitude."

Plett says she has written a letter to provincial government officials on behalf of their chamber of commerce encouraging open communication.

"These are two decisions that were made without anyone here being aware of them as far as I know and they were just thrown at us and basically we are requesting that communication stay open with our organization, with our rural municipality councils and just to make these decisions are a group effort and not have to be surprised by all of this change."

Plett says the chamber of commerce hopes to help the provincial government find someone that is willing to continue operation at the Pineland Nursery.