"It's important to do," said Puffalt. "There will be lots this year."
In a May 16 press release, NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter accused the province of setting a dangerous precedent by cutting the funding from the budget and also criticized them for offloading onto municipal governments.
"Last year the Wall government stated mosquito control funding was going to be a one-time funding outlay. Now we see the effects of this decision as municipalities are scrambling to cope on a slashed budget. Regina, for example, is spending only 60 per cent of what the normal budget is for mosquito control," Lingenfelter said.
Puffalt said the City spends between $35,000 to $40,000 on its mosquito control program and noted they received $20,000 from the province in 2010.
"It certainly helps to make the program go, but we are doing a fairly good program right now, in fact we extend out to the RM a little bit," said Puffalt who added there has been no word on a possible change of heart from the province.
"If it goes, great. If not we are going to continue with our program. It may not seem that it's effective, but if you go out into the country where there is no larvacide program, they will pick you up and carry you away."
The larvacide the City uses is a granular substance that is applied to any open water sources. Puffalt said larvacide is more effective that spraying because it kills the mosquito larvae before they have a chance to hatch. He added crews have been applying the larvacide for the past few weeks.
"As soon as the waters open up they are in there larvaciding."
