The Reeve of Ste. Anne says when their fire department responds to a crash, they will help out, whether it is a Manitoba license plate or not. Yet, Paul Saindon, says it is an ongoing issue, that when the crash involves an out-of-province vehicle, it is a battle to try and recover their costs from that motorist's insurance provider.

"That's been an ongoing issue over the years," says Saindon. "I think they are going to try to lobby the AMM (Association of Manitoba Municipalities) to go to MPI and try to resolve this in a way because, yes, that has been a recurring problem."

Having served with the fire department for many years, Saindon says he knows full well that when firefighters arrive at the scene of a crash, it makes no difference where that vehicle is from, they treat them all the same. However, treating out-of-province individuals comes at more of a financial cost to the municipality. That is because the municipality submits their bills to the insurance provider, yet often those bills are viewed as too costly.

"You can only submit your bill, and if they choose to pay or not, you are at their mercy because it's like they are not obligated and we have no recourse of collecting," explains the Reeve. "That is an issue that we've lost some funds over that and it has been a difficult task to claim some of that insurance cost."

Saindon says in a perfect world, Manitoba Public Insurance would just cover the entire expense and then take on the hassle of recovering those costs from the out-of-province insurance provider.

"Perhaps they have more power," he says. "But if they don't, then I don't really know the solution to forcing private insurance companies to do the right thing."

According to Saindon, this probably only happens a few times each year for Ste. Anne. However, he guesses other municipalities along the Trans Canada Highway probably experience the same thing.