NDP neglect Manitobans while pursuing leadership campaign - and have abandoned Leaf Rapids

We are two weeks into the Legislative session. In seven days of session, we have had six emergency debates on urgent matters where the NDP have dropped the ball. While the NDP are scurrying around the province on leadership issues, they are daily dropping the ball for people around Manitoba.

The NDP have virtually abandoned farmers in the Interlake who have had severe wet weather conditions. The NDP have abandoned Killarney Lake and the people of Killarney who have suffered one of the worst summers - with the lake so full of algae there has been a sour odour, the fish have died and NDP ministers did not even show up for a major town meeting on Sept 9. The NDP have abandoned Manitoba hog farmers, and not even a single NDP MLA or cabinet minister showed up for a huge meeting of hundreds of producers in Morris. The NDP have abandoned the people of Sagkeeng who continue to have severe erosion as a result of high water on Lake Winnipeg (in one storm the shore was moved back 13 meters (about 42 feet)). The erosion threatens a provincial road, yet the NDP have done nothing. The NDP have neglected those locked out in Pine Falls and only had urgent talks with Greyhound officials after there was an emergency debate in the Legislature.

But worst of all, the NDP have abandoned Leaf Rapids. The Mayor and Council have been calling for help for several years, but the NDP have done nothing. This year the situation with crime and social problems is so bad that the Mayor expects by the end of the year there will be 600 people put in the local jail (this is in a community of 800). Of course some of the people have been jailed more than once, so the 600 stays in jail represents less than 600 different people. Now, the NDP have been saying that their answer to this is to provide better recreational facilities for youth. But in Leaf Rapids the Town Community and Recreation Centre has been so neglected that the gym is not properly usable, and the town office has had to be moved out of the Centre because of the severe mould problems. And this is not the town's fault. The Leaf Rapids Community Centre is looked after by a Crown Corporation, responsible directly to the Province of Manitoba. The province can't even look after its own buildings when it comes to this vital recreational and community centre. The NDP have abandoned Leaf Rapids.

And there is more. One way to reduce crime and social problems is to ensure there are employment opportunities. Well, Leaf Rapids happens to be near the big Wuskwatim Dam project. And guess what. Sixty people in Leaf Rapids applied for jobs at Wuskwatim. Only four were hired. The NDP can't even get the local employment issue right. And it is not as if this was the only opportunity that has been missed. There are quite a number of homes in Leaf Rapids as well as the Community Centre which need repairs. The province could at a minimum invest some money in helping to repair their own centre and Manitoba Housing buildings in order to create local jobs and help fix up the community. But they have not. The NDP treatment of Leaf Rapids is a sad and sorry legacy of the present government.