Manitoba - our Throne Speech - How to navigate in stormy seas

As a country and as a province, we are facing stormy economic seas. Already, many of the investments in the stock markets in Canada have lost much of their value. Seniors dependent on income from RRSPs, small businesses depending on income from sales when people have less disposable income and those who are employed at businesses which are facing difficult times are already facing uncertain futures.

At such times as these - when the captain of the ship (the Premier in Manitoba) is steering into these stormy seas, the throne speech should have provided a vision of where we are going and how we are going to come through these difficult times ahead. The vision of where we are going should give guidance to all in the province, and help to bring us together as a team in knowing we can all play a role. We should be entering the stormy seas with all systems working optimally - and the role of the captain in making sure of this is vital. And we should be ready with some precautionary moves to enable those who are less fortunate to survive the troubled times ahead.

We all know we are moving toward what is called the Green Economy. This is an economy in which we acknowlede that the products and services for which consumers will be most keen in the future are those which are environmentally beneficial, rather than products and services which are polluting. In this context, we are pleased with the government's decision to follow our Liberal lead in moving to ban plastic bags and promote bags which are recyclable. There will be expanded use in the years to come of bags which are made from agricultural products like corn starch and hemp and much less use of traditional plastic bags. Moving in this direction helps the planet and it also helps Manitoba's postion in the development, production and marketing of recyclable bags.

But in other areas, the direction is less clear, and the throne speech does not clearly set the direction toward the Green Economy as it should have done. It lacks a compass or a good GPS.

For example, while the throne speech talks of ending logging in provincial parks, and one presumes that there will be a change in jobs from those in the logging industry to those in the eco-tourism industry, the speech from the throne lacks a comprehensive effort to build the eco-tourism industry in Manitoba in a way that will be sustainable. Are people to be trained and or re-trained for the jobs of the future, or are we doing training for jobs which may not be there in the future?

As I say above, we should be going into the stormy seas ahead with all systems go. Certainly, in nine years Gary Doer and the NDP have had more than enough time to get all systems go. But, as we have seen recently, many systems in Manitoba are not go. Affordable housing is in a crisis - as was made clear at a recent forum at St. Ignatius Church. Diseases like Diabetes and FASD are at epidemic proportions in Manitoba with the incidence of diabetes increasing each year. There are big system problems in our Regional Health Authorities. There is a crisis in Child and Family Services. All these problems should have been sorted out before we enter stormy weather, but they are all continuing.

Lastly, we should have had much clearer measures to help those who will be badly affected by the economic turmoil. Senior's Resource Centres should have been boosted. Prevention of health problems like diabetes and FASD, and in particular mental health issues should have been emphasized, both to keep people healthier and to help constrain the growth in health spending needs. For example, why is diabetes not being treated like the epidemic that it is? Why, after nine years in power, is there no sign of the epidemic being halted and reversed? Where is the effort to help those with mental health issues and to prevent further mental health issues develop.

There is much that could have and should have been better in the Throne Speech. Please see the accompanying video for more. Or send me your comments by email to jon.gerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca