Children in Manitoba, Jordan's Principle, FASD and the price of milk

It was quite a day at the Legislature today. Liberals started with a bill to provide an equitable price for milk in northern Manitoba. Today the cost of milk in northern Manitoba is very high in many communities, with costs of $10-12 per four liter container quite common in isolated communities, compared to less than half this in Winnipeg.

The result of the high cost of milk is that children in the north may be given pop instead of milk because of the high cost of milk. The incidence of dental caries in many northern communities is very high, perhaps in part because children are drinking pop instead of milk. We see a need to have a fair and equitable price for milk in northern Manitoba instead of the present exorbitant price. Sadly the NDP did not support fairness and equity for northern Manitoba.

Second, we introduced a resolution which calls for all-party support for and implementation of Jordan's Principle. I began by expressing the need for this, and congratulating the NDP on their announcement of last Friday, that they will be working with the federal government to implement Jordan's Principle. It was a shock then to find that the NDP were not ready to support our all-party resolution to support and implement Jordan's Principle. Clearly the NDP fail to see that this is one issue where all have to work together to ensure the children in are properly supported, and that the rights of children to proper health and social support come first and ahead of governmental jurisdictional disputes.

Third, Kevin Lamoureux and I probed the NDP government about why they have failed to support provincial action, including our Liberal bill, to require mandatory labelling of alcholic beverages in Manitoba. Today is FASD day, and the NDP provincially surprised us all in the Legislature by failing to support a measure which has been strongly supported by their federal colleagues. Gary Doer's NDP are peculiar.

The photo above is from the rally for FASD held in front of the Legislature today.