Some politicians make themselves available to the media

In the wake of Steven Harper's fight with the national media, I want to make it clear that I do what I can to make myself available to the media even when it comes to tough questions.

When I was in Brandon on Friday, I stopped in to see Curtis Brown at the Brandon Sun. Curtis is always ready to ask tough questions, and from time to time he can be pretty tough on me - like when he talked about vanishing Liberals. But in politics, you need to have a sense of humility and a sense of humour - and I dropped in just to make it clear that the provincial Liberals aren't vanishing.

We are very much around, and we are building for the next provincial election because we see the need for a strong provincial Liberal Party and an opportunity for our Party to get a larger presence on the provincial scene. We have our provincial campaign team working hard and we are recruiting and nominating candidates at a steady pace.

To see Curtis Brown's blog visit http://endlessspin.blogspot.com/

Crocus Plains High School in Brandon

As part of my efforts to reach out to people around Manitoba, I was in Brandon on Friday and talking to students in Tannis Ortynsky's class at the Crocus Plains High School. Crocus Plains students recently did well in Manitoba's Skills Competition, and four students went to the national levels. For more about Crocus Plains see http://www.brandonsd.mb.ca/crocus/default.htm

It is your turn now to comment on legislation at Committee stage

As we reach the last week and a half of the legislative session (It will end June 13), many of the bills are going to a legislative committee where citizens can make presentations.

If you would like to make a presentation on one of the bills being considered in a committee, you should call the clerk's office at 945-3636 or 204-945-3636 if you are outside of Winnipeg.
You can also come directly to the committee when it starts and register to speak at the committee itself. Presentations are normally up to ten minutes in length with up to five minutes of questions from MLAs following the presentation.

Eleven bills will be going to committee this Monday June 5. These bill are as follows:

1) The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Food - This committee will meet at 9:00 a.m. in Room 254 of the Legislative Building

Bill 19 - The Agri-Food and Rural Development Council Act
Bill 20 - The Family Farm Protection Amendment and Farm Lands Ownership Amendment Act
Bill 30 - The Fires Prevention and Emergency Response Act
Bill 31 - The Animal Diseases Amendment Act

2) The Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development - This committee will meet at 9:00 a.m. ( and also at 6:00 p.m. if necessary) in Room 255 in the Manitoba Legislature

Bill 11 - The Winter Heating Cost Control Act
Bill 12 - The Highways and Transportation Amendment Act
Bill 14 - The Water Rights Amendment Act.
Bill 24 - The Consumer Protection Amendment Act (Government Cheque Cashing Fees)
Bill 35 - The Public Schools Finance Board Amendment and the Public Schools Amendment Act
Bill 300 - The Association of Former Manitoba MLAs Act.

3) The Standing Committee on Legislative Affairs - This committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. in Room 254 of the Manitoba Legislature

Bill 22 - The Elections Reform Act.

Ecole J.B. Mitchell School celebrates 50 years

Celebrations are under way at Ecole J.B. Mitchell School for the 5oth anniversary of the school.

Congratulations to Principle Mme Marie-France Giasson, Vice-Principal Joyce Wong, Parent Council President Carolynn Osborn and all the students and parents.

Colonel James Bertram Mitchell was the Architect and Commissioner of School Buildings and Supplies from 1892-1929 during which time he and superintendent Daniel McIntye designed and built 48 Winnipeg Schools.

The Race - from the Ski slopes to the political arena

In 1976, Martha Hall Findlay was the silver medalist at the Canadian ski championships. Today, she is running in the race to be leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. She is travelling by bus across Canada and was in Winnipeg last night. In the top photos, she is shown listening to Manitoba concerns.

You can find out more about Martha Hall Findlay at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Hall_Findlay

Winnipeg Children's Hospital and the Teddy Bear's Picnic

I was out serving pancakes this morning at the Teddy Bear's Picnic. Boyd Kozac was cooking pancakes (top photo), and Erin Selby and Joe Olafson (middle photo), were among those serving pancakes.

Sadly a bit of a thunderstorm interrupted the picnic for a while. But , for those who were there early, there was many people out and enjoying themselves.

The Teddy Bear's picnic provides exposure, and raises funds for the Winnipeg Children's Hospital, as well as helping children understand what the hospital is all about.

The Goldeyes come back to win 12-6

The Goldeyes were down 5-0 to the Calgary Vipers last night, but they hung in there, and then came back to win 12-6.

Top - Canwest Global Stadium with the Goldeyes versus the Calgary Vipers. Middle, Pence gets read to hurl a pitch. Bottom, Kathryn entertains during a lull in the game.

Help to save Nazanin Fatehi

Nazanin Fatehi is a young Iranian woman who has been sentenced to death for an act of self-defence when three men attempted to rape her and her 16 year old niece in a park in Karaj, Iran.

To learn more visit
http://save.nazanin.googlepages.com/home#SC

To sign the on-line petition, visit
http://www.petitiononline.com/Nazanin/

A monkey on the shoulder

When I was in Neepawa not long ago, I did an interview with Neil Strohschein at Access TV. While I was there Ivan Trail mentioned that once, when a former politician was interviewed the camera was placed so that a little monkey, on a shelf behind, appeared to be sitting on the politician's shoulder. Fortunately, they were more careful with the camera angle when I was there.

Top photo shows me in the interview with Neil Strohschein. The small photo on the left shows the monkey sitting on the shelf behind.

Manitoba's provincial Tories fail to support Kelowna Accord

Kevin Lamoureux and I tried to get an all-party resolution through the Manitoba Legislature to provide support for the Kelowna Accord, and support for aboriginal people in Canada.

The NDP were ready to extend the hours of the session to get this resultion, but the provincial Tories refused. They had every excuse in the book, but the bottom line is they failed to stand up and join the other parties in a resolution to the federal government urging support for the Kelowna Accord.

To see the debate, visit http://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/hansard/4th-38th/vol_69/h69.html#mup