Neepawa - the NDP don't seem to understand the importance of infrastructure

While I was in Neepawa today, I had a chance to visit with a number of people from the area. For about 15 years, Neepawa has been asking for provincial assistance to upgrade the sewage treatment plant to serve the town and Springhill Farms.

More recently, for several months now, the plans and funding have been ready to proceed with a new slaughter plant for cattle in Neepawa, but it is all being held up because the sewage treatment infrastructure is not sufficient. The town is ready to go, but because of the cost needs help from the province of Manitoba. Sadly, the NDP having delayed so long, continue to delay. They need to act now - or the plant may move to Saskatchewan.

Access 2 Books, Margaret Laurence and Neepawa

About two months ago, Access 2 Books opened in Neepewa. It is a wonderful bookstore (top photo - I am with Hector Swanson) which raises money for Access 2 cable television in the community. A wide variety of books are available at a very reasonable cost. Come and visit. Bring your old books to donate and purchase new ones. There is quite a good selection. I found a biography of Margaret Laurence which I had not read before.

Speaking of Margaret Laurence, her former house in Neepawa is a fascinating place to visit. By special request, Betty Chisholm showed us inside today.

I was here before, but it was some time ago. This time I was travelling with Dennis Trochim, a playwrite and author, who was keen to see it because he had never seen it before - so we did.

Margaret Laurence, second photo, is well know for her novels like the Stone Angel. This house provides a perspective on Margaret's life and some of the characters and moments in her stories.

In the photo third from the top, I am with Betty Chisholm, and between us is a very large tea pot. Apparently Margaret Laurence would fill it up in the morning, and sit down to write, drinking cup after cup as she worked.

In the next photo, I am sitting in front of Margaret Laurence's typewriter. She never used a computer. If only I could write like her.

In the bottom photo, we see a stained glass window. Margaret Laurence when she was young used to sit and watch the sparkles of light passing through the window.

There is much much more in the house. Come and see for yourself.

Selkirk's Happy Thought School

Yesterday, in East Selkirk, I had a chance to visit the Happy Thought School. It is a school where the staff and students work well together, but the plain fact is that it has 700 children and a new school is now badly needed. The new school, a middle years school (grades 5-9) has been planned, but there is a problem - the NDP government.

The first request from the school board to the government was in 1997. In the years since, three education ministers, Drew Caldwell, Ron Lemieux and Peter Bjornson have each come to the school, and with much fanfare and TV coverage announced that they were going to build the new school. But there is a problem, the NDP government has not yet approved the funding for the new school.

It was quickly apparent, when I visited the school, some of the reasons a new school is needed. They are so crowded that they have put a small classroom in a corner underneath a stairwell, behind piles of buckets (top two photos). There is only one boys washroom and one girls washroom on the first floor in spite of the fact that this floor has had eight portable classrooms added on and has many more students than it was originally intended to have.

In spite of all the problems, students are doing the best to keep their school attractive with lots of art on the walls (bottom photo).

Bernie Wolfe

Yesterday, in Birds Hill, I had a short visit with Bernie Wolfe. For many years Bernie was a councillor with the Metro Council of Winnipeg and he served for a time as deputy mayor. He was in the news a great deal, and still today, from time to time he emerges to comment pointedly on current events.

Bernie keeps up to date with what is happening. In his study (photo), he is surrounded by books and cartoons (photo from his days with the Metro Council). Thank you for a good visit Bernie, and for your helpful advice.

Thank you to Rick Waugh and the Scotiabank

Last night in the Rotunda of the Manitoba Legislature, Rick Waugh President and CEO of the Scotiabank presented two $100,000 cheques. One was to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The second was to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Rick Waugh grew up in Winnipeg, and graduated from the University of Manitoba before moving to Toronto. In his speech last night he pointed out that the Scotiabank first came to Winnipeg 114 years ago. Indeed Scotiabank, which started in Halifax, came to Winnipeg before it went to Toronto! However, its headquarters are now in Toronto.

Thank you Rick and the Scotiabank for your generous support to two of Manitoba's major cultural institutions.

A Taste of Sri Lanka

Tonight was the official opening of a new restaurant, A Taste of Sri Lanka, at 179 Bannatyne Ave.

Peter Bastians (with me in the photo above), and his wife are suberb cooks and provide an excellent meal of Sri Lankan and other cuisines.

Health Care in Manitoba - Getting worse even faster under the NDP

A few weeks ago, the Conference Board of Canada released a very thorough report on provincial health care systems across Canada, and we got the bad (but not entirely unexpected) news that Manitoba had the worst provincial health care system in the country in terms of the overall quality of health care provided. It is a pretty sobering report.

And yesterday, I got further confirmation of just how bad things have become under the NDP after a meeting with front-line health care workers at St. Boniface Hospital. They made it very clear to me how Gary Doer and the NDP continue today to lead Manitoba towards a further decline in our health care system.

At St. Boniface, the hospital has announced NDP-supported changes which would lead to a major reduction in Health Care Aides on 5B and 5E medicine, on 6A and 8A family medicine, and in care for women and children. In total there will be a reduction of 48 health care aides.

One of the major problems with this plan is that a number of the wards will be left with only one health care aide at a time. When similar changes were made previously to reduce the number of health care aides on 4A South, the situation on the ward became virtually impossible, and a about a year later the number of health care aides had to be increased to from one to two.

There is a legitimate concern that this previous experience will now repeat itself with this new rounds of cuts.

The fact is, the NDP just don't get it. The Conference Board report found that Manitoba has the highest proportion of the population waiting more than a month for diagnostic or specialty visits. It also found Manitoba has the highest proportion of the population reporting difficulty obtaining health information or advice any time of day. Now, we see the NDP pushing Manitobans further away from timely, quality health care with their cuts to health care aides.

When is this NDP government going to stop putting Manitobans on hold for health care?

Suicides in Manitoba

Several times in the Legislature, I have pushed the NDP government to develop better programs and initiatives to prevent suicides in Manitoba. One of these was on April 26, 2002, when I was approached by people in the community of Pukatawagan who were very concerned about this issue.

Well, four long years later, the NDP has finally announced that they will fund a province-wide suicide prevention line. This is a good initiative and better late than never, but one has to ask why such a basic initiative took so long. One hundred and seventy-five suicides last year is far too many.

But much more needs to be done than announce one new program if we are going to reduce the number of suicides in Manitoba. Suicides are often a call for help because individuals feel powerless in their lives. We need to provide opportunities that empower people in their own lives, and this is especially true of Manitoba's young people.

Once, long ago, a wag said something to the effect that the NDP were just Liberals in a hurry. Personally, I think whoever said that got it completely backwards. Time after time, the record shows that it is the NDP in Manitoba who have been slow in responding to a serious problem or crisis. It has always been up to provincial Liberals to keep pushing the NDP to take even the smallest of steps. That anyone would accuse the Manitoba NDP of being in a hurry about anything doesn't make much sense to me.

Careers and Grant Park

This afternoon I was at Grant Park High School to talk about politics as a career. Guess what - it was clear that students were much more interested in firefighter Gord Amirault who did a great job of presenting the highs and the lows and the "hot" and the "cold" of being a firefighter. Well done Gord! One of the students was so enthusiastic, she tried on the firefighter suit (photos). But it was kind of heavy.

Jennifer Perron also did an excellent job of talking about her work at the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities.

In the bottom photo, I am shown with Shauna Holm who is helping students learn about different career options.



By the way, if you want to comment on posts on my blog, send me an email at jgerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca

Promoting better partnerships between caregiveers and patients

During the course of the last several months, numerous people have come forward to talk to me about problems they have had accessing their medical records, accessing the medical records of close family members when they have legal responsibility (Power of Attorney), or are the "patient advocate" for their parents.

In the present Personal Health Information Act, the requirement is that care providers (institutions like hospitals and personal care homes) or family physicians have up to 30 days to provide access to medical records. Too often, this has led to antagonistic relationships between care providers who withhold information for 30 days, and those receiving care (and their families) who want prompt access to information.

In today's world, the requirement for 30 days to provide access is no longer needed when a person is in care in a hospital or personal care home. Indeed, it will promote much better partnerships between caregivers and those receiving care when information is shared, and patients and family members can better participate in decisions around care.

Indeed, the Manitoba Society of Seniors, in 2003, asked the following question on a survey
"Do you believe your personal representative would be able to advocate on your behalf more effectively if they could access your treatment information during treatment as opposed to 30 days later?" Seventy-four people answered the question. Seventy-one (96%) said Yes they felt that prompt access to treatment information would be best. Three were undecided and no one answered no. There is broad support for this initiative. It needs to be done.

Today, I held a press conference to call for medical records for those in hospitals and personal care homes to be available within 24 hours rather than in 30 days. My goal is to improve the Personal Health Information Act to benefit Manitoba citizens, to provide for more open and transparent government, and to create better partnerships between caregivers and those receiving care.

In my office with me today were Mimi Raglan and Blake Taylor who both had problems with getting access to medical records when they were the advocate for their parents.

My call for change in the law has been echoed by Winnipeg family physician Dr. Rick Ross who says: "If a patient can walk into their family doctor's office and for a small fee get a copy of their chart in a day or two, why should hospitals or personal care homes be any different? Why should patients in a hospital have to wait any longer to see their files than the patients of family doctors?"

We have already received some feedback: "Hello : This is a great idea and a good release!!! Way to go Jon Gerrard!!" Don Fletcher

[ April 2010: Finally a bill to implement 24 hour access to medical records will come into force on May 1 of this year!]

Grace - one year old

Grace, our grandaughter is one year old. She is doing well and is seen in the photos above with her dad, Roger (bottom photo) and her mother, Pauline (top photo). Happy Birthday Grace.

Tsehay Tuji - Black History Month Awardee

Tsehay Tuji, photos above, has quite a story.

Last night she was recognized for her contributions with an award from the Black History Month Committee.

Five and a half years ago, Tsehay, a business-woman in Ethiopia, was running for election to her country's parliament.

Half way through the election, the governing party realized Tsehay was going to win the election. She was popular. They did not like it and they started an intimidation campaign. Tsehay feared for her life and the lives of her children. She came to Canada.

Here in Winnipeg, Tsehay has three businesses. One of these, the E and E food mart, opened a few weeks ago. It is at 408 Notre Dame. It specializes in ethnic food and spices from Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Asia. Tsehay and her family have done well since they came here as refugees, and last night they received an award in recognition of these efforts.

Sadly, the situation in Ethiopia has not improved since Tsehay left. At this time, all the political opposition leaders in Ethiopia are in jail. It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in Ethiopia. We can only hope things will get better.

Clara Hughes - what an amazing race!

To have the guts, the determination and the endurance to cover the last one and a half laps a full minute faster than Claudia Pechstein and to capture the gold medal is amazing.

Indeed it is amazing that we have from Manitoba the talents of Clara Hughes, Cindy Klassen and Jennifer Botterill, each of whom came home with a gold medal.

Clara you have surprised us all, not only by winning the gold medal, but also by showing extraordinary generosity in contributing $10,000 to give children in third world countries the opportunity to play sports. You have a heart of gold.

Congratulations are due as well to all Manitoba and Canadian athletes who competed in the Olympics. Just being there shows you have special talents and you deserve recognition.