Being prepared for our granddaughter Grace

Our granddaughter, Grace, is now just six months old. She is doing very well for a six month old, but she is not quite ready to ride a bicycle. Nevertheless, this morning, my wife Naomi, could not resist purchasing a small bicycle for her at a garage sale. It will be some time before Grace can ride the bicycle – but the time from now to then will pass quickly. Naomi is determined to be ready.

Staying in Manitoba

John Gleason, in his editorial in the Winnipeg Sun yesterday asks “Whatever keeps us in Manitoba?” He mentions that his 21 year old son Mike says compared to Alberta, Winnipeg has “the nicest looking women”. But apparently even this has not stopped his son from moving to the Alberta oil patch. I know exciting and well paying job opportunities are a key part of what is needed to keep young people here in Manitoba. We’ve simply got to do better than we are doing now. For my part, I know what keeps me here – I love Manitoba, and I strongly believe we can and must change things to make Manitoba a more attractive place for young people.

The Northern Association of Community Councils (NACC)

This morning I was at the NACC meetings in Winnipeg. The NACC is comprised of more than 50 northern communities varying in size from very small to more than 600 people. It includes communities like Wabowden, Duck Bay, Sherridon and Seymourville. Members of the association gather annually to share concerns and to plan for the coming year. This morning I was part of a panel with several NDP ministers, Gord Steeves, representing the City of Winnipeg, and the MKO Grand Chief Sydney Garrioch. After the introductory remarks, there was time for questions and answers – and there were lots and lots of questions.
One of the concerns was flooding at the north end of Lake Manitoba. When the Portage Diversion was opened to prevent flooding of Winnipeg earlier this year, it poured more water into Lake Manitoba and raised the level of the lake flooding land used to produce the winter supply of hay. The Province of Manitoba was charging rent on this Crown land to the rancher – not accounting for the fact that 1,000 acres was no longer land; it was now water. Sometimes we who live in the City of Winnipeg forget that decreasing flooding in the city has adverse impacts far away. It’s time to have a better long-term approach to deal with this issue.

Why I started this blog

My staff, particularly Ruslan Tracz, have been pestering me for some time to write a blog. I have delayed making a decision because I know that once I start I must continue, and it will be quite a bit of work keeping it up. But, last Thursday something happened which pushed me to make the decision. I received an email from a constituent to say that he had just buried his grandfather. Ten days earlier, he had emailed me to tell me the problem. His grandfather had been brought to a Winnipeg hospital in urgent need of surgery to save his life. He had been turned away. I acted immediately to inform and plead with the Minister of Health to act in this life-threatening situation. Sadly, the decision was not reversed. Five days later, my constituent’s grandfather was dead.
When I received the second email, I knew I had to start to share with people more about what happens in the life of a member of the legislature. So, here I am. If you have issues or concerns you can email me at jgerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca.

New Orleans

Today, my attention keeps going back to New Orleans. The photos and stories from New Orleans are incredible. We have had severe floods in Manitoba, but the scale of the disaster is larger than even our huge Winnipeg flood in 1950. Many years ago, I almost went to New Orleans for a medical internship. Since then I have been there twice, and have walked through many of the neighbourhoods which are now underwater. Words somehow seem very inadequate to convey the sadness I feel for what people are going through there, and the hope that the people and the city can recover.