Margaret McKay - a "walking angel" - a tribute

This afternoon, a memorial service at St. Andrew's United Church in River Heights was a time to remember a wonderful person.

Her grandson, Mitch, led off by saying - "The world has lost a walking angel"

Born in Miami, Manitoba, Margaret completed her high school in her home town and then went to business college in Winnipeg where she met her husband Stewart. For many years she juggled raising her family of four children with a successful career in the banking and trust industry and with her community volunteer activities. As one small example, up until last week, at age 81, she was still delivering meals on wheels to people in the community.

She was a favorite of her grandchildren - often attending their sporting events, and was there for them at their graduations.

For many years she was very active in the Liberal Party working closely with Margaret Konantz, with Lloyd Axworthy and many others. I can attest to her efforts and her frequent presence at Liberal events. In 2003, Margaret received the first Senator Gildas L. Molgat Recognition Award.

In 1996, Margaret travelled to Bosnia to be a political observer in Bosnia's first free election.

Thank you Margaret for all you have done. We will miss you. I extend my personal condolences to family and friends.

The photo at the top shows Margaret's photo as it was displayed in the foyer of the Church. Margaret loved puzzles and she left one unfinished. In her memory, we know we still have work to do to continue in her footsteps helping others.

One of the best comments at the memorial service was about Margaret's approach to life "Have a passion - and pursue it the best you are able." Margaret did.

Anti-Bullying Legislation Introduced

I had the pleasure today to introduce a new Liberal bill in the Legislature that I am very excited about. It's a bill to clamp-down on bullying and harassment in the workplace – legislation that seeks to balance the right of workers to a harassment-free workplace while protecting employers from frivolous or vexatious harassment claims.

Workplace bullying costs us all. It costs the victim in terms of anguish, suffering, and in most cases financially because more often than not it is the victim who loses their job, not the harasser. Studies show the incidence of bullying from 10-20% and in some occupations that number is much higher. One study found 30% of Ontario teachers and education workers have been bullied by a parent or guardian, 24% bullied by a superior, and 14% by a colleague.

Workplace bullying also costs employers in terms of lost productivity. Bullied employees lose anywhere from 10 to 52% of their productivity. Safe, secure workplaces are productive workplaces. The Australian state of Victoria estimates that in 2001-2002 alone, businesses lost over $57 million due to workplace bullying. Based on comparisons the state of Victoria, Manitoba employers can expect to save almost $14 million each year with anti-bullying legislation.

Reducing bullying in our school system will also help educate Manitoba’s children on proper workplace behaviour, working to reduce bullying even further when they enter the work force and provide positive reinforcement of good behaviour in general.

This type of legislation is not unheard of and has been in place in Sweden since 1993. Quebec has had similar legislation since 2004. Other jurisdictions are considering legislation of their own.

In putting together this bill, our Liberal team has carefully looked at legislative options in many jurisdictions to bring the best possible legislation to Manitoba, legislation that is good for workers, good for employers, and good for the Manitoba economy.

If you'd like to take a look at the details of the bill, you can access it on the Legislative Assembly's website. Here's the link: http://web2.gov.mb.ca/bills/sess/b210e.php

International Women's Day

Yesterday was International Women's Day. There were major celebrations at the Manitoba Legislature, in particular, to honour the fact that this was the 90th Anniversary of the year (1916) when women received the right to vote in Manitoba ( see photos above). It is an occasion, which we, as Liberals, are very proud. It was a Liberal government under Toby Norris which brought in the right for women to vote in Manitoba.

Norris worked very closely with Nellie McClung and many other women around Manitoba to bring this about. It was a huge fight. The fight was won here in Manitoba before any other province.

On a sad note, Monday's NDP budget missed an opportunity to advance the status of women in Manitoba. The budget pays little attention to the feminization of poverty (poverty for women is at a twenty year high). The budget makes only a feeble effort to stop the violence and sexual abuse of women (reported sexual assaults are up 50%), and it leaves many families unable to have child care (there is a need for an additional 15,000 child care spaces in Winnipeg alone).

As I pointed out on my previous post on the budget, single women with children earning $22,500 a year have a very high effective marginal tax rate of 60% under the NDP - a higher effective marginal tax rate than the most wealthy in our society. There is much to do. Liberals would bring in an overhaul of our social assistance and our tax and support systems to address this problem.

The provincial budget - health care, education, child poverty, the environment, entrepreneurship and competitiveness

The provincial budget, presented on Monday, brought in very large spending increases - some $555 million more than last year. But given the track record of the NDP recently, we must question how much more than this they will end up spending by the end of the year. In 2002, they went $10 million over budget. By 2004, they were $164 million over budget and last year they were $275 million over budget.




The NDP budget plans to take $69 million from the rainy day fund (the fiscal stabilization fund). It is bad policy to be planning, already, to take so much from the fiscal stabilization fund. The money in this fund should be kept so there is a reserve for emergencies during the year. If the NDP go over budget as they did last year, they will have to take considerably more than this from the rainy day fund by the end of the year.






Health Care:


The health care budget is increased by $217 million. This means that, on an annual basis, health care expenditures are now $1.5 billion a year more than when the NDP were first elected.

You have to ask yourself how it is that with these huge increases in expenditures Manitoba was rated last in health care by an exhaustive report by the Conference Board of Canada (see my note http://www.manitobaliberals.ca/2006/03/health-care-in-manitoba-getting-worse.html )

Waiting lists continue to be far too long and the problem remains out of control in Manitoba. The NDP, in many respects, continue to lurch from crisis to crisis. If it is not one community in crisis and short of doctors it is another. With a six year history of poor health care management in Manitoba, it is time to change the approach. It is time to overhaul the management approach and the RHAs to give us much better service and accountability than we have now.



Healthy Living and Wellness:


While the health care budget for treating those who are sick went up by $212 million, the budget for keeping people healthy rose by only 2.4% of this, or $5.4 million. Clearly the government is giving a low priority to keeping people healthy. There are no targets for reducing the incidence of diabetes or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders for example, and not even clearly articulated plans with expected outcomes. Instead of acting solely to give recreation tax breaks for the few, Liberals would have ensured all children in school have adequate daily quality physical education. Instead of focusing solely on buying 1000 new bike helmets, Liberals would have made the use of bicycle helmets mandatory for those riding bicycles (as it is in most other provinces). Instead of focusing solely on gardening initiatives in the north, Liberals would have brought in legislation to have the same price for milk all over the province. In short, the NDP plans for Healthy Living fall far short of what we need. One result is that we will continue to spend huge amounts more each year in treating the illness and sickness that we have failed to prevent in the first place.



Health Care Research:


The centre point for funding of provincial health research is through the Manitoba Health Research Council. Funding for the Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC) is budgeted at $1.95 million for 2006/07, exactly the same number as last year, and almost exactly the same as was provided in 1992. In relative terms the MHRC budget has decreased drastically compared to overall health care spending. The NDP lack an understanding of how important health research is to improving the quality of health care in Manitoba. Instead of flat lining health care research like the NDP, Liberals would make this a priority and ensure that research efforts are front and centre in the renewal and improvement of the quality and cost of health care in Manitoba.
 
Primary and Secondary Education:
The NDP have removed the Education Special Levy. Good. But, there is two problems with the NDP approach. First, each year under the NDP, the province has provided a smaller proportion of education funding which means that local school boards must provide a larger proportion of education funding and local property taxes go up. Offloading onto local property taxpayers is not a good idea. Liberals would ensure that 80% of primary and secondary education funding is provided by the province which would very significantly reduce local property taxes.

The second problem in reducing the proportion of primary and secondary education funded provincially, is that it gives rise to greater and greater inequities in education around the province. Different areas have different capabilities to raise funds through property taxes and this means that education in some areas of Manitoba is much less well supported finanacially than in other areas and that children in the poorly funded areas suffer in the quality of their education. This is another reason why Liberals would move to 80% funding of primary and secondary education from the province.

Post-secondary education
The increase in provincial funding for post-secondary education is welcome, but the overall policy of the NDP with respect to post-secondary education funding is poor. Liberals see a need to increase tuition with a cap on increases at the rate of inflation. Students benefit from the education and it is only appropriate that they share in the yearly cost increases. Increased revenue from tuition as well as government grants would allow post-secondary education institutions to maintain high standards which are badly need in today's world.

Child poverty


Last year's budget had provided what was called Paper F - to look at some of the issues around poverty in Manitoba. What was shown was that single working parents with children earning $22,500 a year are paying effective marginal tax rates of 60% (this means that single mothers with children are sometimes having to pay 60 cents of every dollar earned to the government in taxes). This is a higher rate than the most wealthy in society. Is this right? No is what we say as Liberals. We would change this so single mothers with children are not paying a higher proportion in taxes than the most wealthy in our society.



This year, the NDP did not even include a section on looking at poverty. One can only conclude they are not interested. It was embarrassing for them last year to show what is happening. The NDP approach to poverty in Manitoba was and is inadequate.
 
The environment:
 
I will look particularly at the budget as it applies to two lakes - Lake Winnipeg and Kississing Lake.




For Lake Winnipeg, there is some additional funding, but we have not been provided with an action plan with clear timelines and outcomes. The budget is far short of what should have been provided. For years now, the NDP have talked about Lake Winnipeg, and while they have been talking the phosphorous levels and algal blooms have got worse not better.



Kississing Lake in northern Manitoba has one of the most polluted sites in Canada. Vast mine tailings from the Sherridon mine continue to leach into Kississing Lake, and will continue to leach and cause continuing problems until action is taken. The NDP budget provides some funding for water treatment for Sherridon, but it does absolutely nothing with respect to containing the waste and preventing continued leaching let alone do any clean up. As such the NDP budget fails completely.
 
Infrastructure for roads and drainage:
 
Monday's budget announced some increase in funding for roads. What the budget did not do is to provide an improved management approach to ensure that the funds are spent as wisely as possible. What the budget did not do is present a several year plan to ensure that Manitoba's roads are well maintained. These are matters that Liberals would have attended to.




Anyone who has driven recently around Manitoba knows there has been a serious shortfall in this regard under the NDP. Indeed, the poor road maintenance is costing truckers, farmers and others dearly because too many important roads are not kept up to the standards they should be at.



The NDP have increased the budget for drainage from $1.9 million to $3.8 million. The budget should have included both drainage and water storage (as is happening on South Tobacco Creek), so we have a balance in the efforts being made in both areas. The new budget remains drastically short of what is needed to ensure farmlands are protected from heavy rains, and if we have a situation like last year, we will once again have huge losses. The NDP approach in this area is fundamentally inadequate.
 
Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness:
Sadly, the NDP do not well understand the need to have a really good climate for private sector investment in Manitoba in order to support the growth of jobs and our economy.




Instead of a rather bland effort in this respect in Monday's budget, Liberals would have acted to reduce the job killing payroll tax and to provide the plan to eliminate it over a several year period.