Law Also Prohibits Smoking in Vehicles When Children are Present

July 14, 2010 

Enforcement of Manitoba’s bans on talking on hand-held electronic devices, texting while driving and smoking in vehicles with children in the car starts tomorrow, Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Steve Ashton announced today.

“The message to Manitobans is this - when you’re on the road, keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel. And when there are kids in the car, butt out your cigarettes,” said Ashton. “We are increasing safety on our roads and promoting healthier living for children. And, as of tomorrow, those measures will be backed up with fines.”

The amendments to the Highway Traffic Act, which will be proclaimed into law tomorrow, July 15, both carry a fine of $199.80.

“There’s a direct connection between use of electronic devices and dangerous driving,” said RCMP Insp. Mark LeMaistre, of the Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police. “Study after study has shown that drivers who talk or text on a hand-held electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle significantly increased their crash risk. In an effort to improve road safety and healthy living, the province has legislated two new laws that take effect today. Enforcement actions begin tomorrow provincewide and these new laws will carry a fine.”

“The vehicle is one environment where parents can influence their children’s susceptibility to smoking in the future,” said Dr.
Annette Schultz, an assistant professor in the faculty of nursing at the University of Manitoba and an investigator at the psychosocial oncology and cancer nursing research group at the St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre. “And our research suggests that enforced vehicle smoking bans support youth in maintaining a resolve to remain smoke free, regardless of the smoking status of the parent.”

British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have laws banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving and Alberta recently introduced such legislation. Several jurisdictions prohibit smoking in vehicles with children present, including British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

Manitoba’s new law allows cellphone use while driving to make telephone calls if the equipment is a hands-free device and used in a hands-free manner. The law also allows use of a hand-held cellphone, in an emergency, to call the police, fire or ambulance service.

CELLPHONE USE FACTS

• Drivers who text are 23 times more likely to be involved in a collision.
• Drivers who use cellphones are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
• The number one source of driver inattention is cellphones.  Drivers talking on cellphones are nearly twice as likely to have rear-end collisions.

June 10, 2010 - I am pleased to announce that there are plans to build a 160 bed expansion at the Milner Ridge Correctional Centre in addition to the 64 bed expansion that has already begun. Construction on the new 160 bed expansion will commence in Spring next year and completion is expected by the Fall of 2012. The project will be open for tender this Fall. Even though the expansion reflects a demand for increased capacity to the province’s correctional system, it will create much needed employment opportunities for Eastern Manitoba.

As your MLA, I recognize that residents in our communities want to live here, work here, and raise their families here. Many people have had to leave our community against their wishes to find suitable employment elsewhere in order to provide for their families. Continued expansion at Milner Ridge Correctional Institute will create much needed and well paying employment opportunities that will allow our residents to stay in our communities. Our communities will grow and prosper. When people have to leave their communities to find employment, our small businesses suffer and this results in less services in our communities.

I encourage those that are seeking employment to watch for ads in your local newspapers, apply at the 11th floor of the Woodsworth Building in Winnipeg, or go to the Province of Manitoba website, the Justice Department of the Civil Service Commission for more information on these employment opportunities

I fully support the expansion of Milner Ridge Correctional Institute. I have been working very hard to ensure the Government recognizes the need to create employment opportunities in Eastern Manitoba. The expansion at Milner Ridge is a start, we have a long way to go and I will continue to pressure the Government to make it happen, and sooner rather than later!

Selinger has an obligation to be open and proactive: McFadyen

June 9, 2010 - The child welfare system is in a ‘state of chaos,’ and change is urgently required, says Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen.

“Premier Greg Selinger needs to take immediate steps to address the critical problems in the child welfare system and ensure the sad legacies of Phoenix Sinclair, Gage Guimond, and all the other vulnerable children who have fallen through the cracks, are not repeated,” said McFadyen.

In October 2006, Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh feigned outrage at the state of his child welfare system and the death of Phoenix Sinclair. He asked reporters, ‘If it takes a village to raise a child, what the heck happened to this village called Manitoba?’ before promising to fix the broken system. He concluded by vowing to ‘ensure we leave behind the destructive history of child welfare.’

“Four years later, we’re hearing the system is getting worse, not better, despite the minister’s platitudes and broken promises. That means more vulnerable children are falling through the cracks,” said PC Critic Bonnie Mitchelson. “Yesterday, the minister threw in the towel by blaming a breakdown in too many families for his system in chaos. When will he be accountable for the child welfare system that his government has so badly damaged?”

The Progressive Conservatives are calling on the government to call an urgent public committee of the legislature with the Acting Children’s Advocate to identify the extent of chaos in the system and begin the process of developing solutions.

“It’s time the NDP stop stonewalling so we can get down to business and address this overwhelming problem,” Mitchelson said.

April 15, 2010 

As your MLA, I am extremely pleased to report that the Milner Ridge Correctional Institute will be expanded and improved.

A $17 Million construction phase is set to begin this Summer and is to be completed by Spring of 2011. The expansion of Milner Ridge Correctional Institute will mean many more well paying and much needed jobs in our area. Manitoba Justice is always looking for good local job applicants. Check our local newspapers for ads, apply at the 11th floor of the Woodsworth Building in Winnipeg, or go to the Provincial Government website, the Justice Department of the Civil Service Commission for more information.

I have always been in support of this expansion and as your MLA I have worked hard to pressure the Government to put this plan into action. I am pleased to announce that that some of that hard work has paid off!

Province Now Accepting Applications For 2010 Program:  Struthers

March 29, 2010

Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Stan Struthers today invited rural and northern communities to take advantage of assistance to revitalize main streets, enhance community gathering places and buildings, and expand neighbourhood green space with trees through the Hometown Manitoba Program.
 
“This popular program has been a tremendous success in supporting significant improvement projects identified by rural and northern communities,” said the minister.  “Local economic activity is the heartbeat of vibrant communities.  Through Hometown Manitoba, we support community-driven projects that enhance local amenities by using local resources and creating long-term economic benefits.”

Struthers noted that, last year, 369 applications were approved from over 120 communities along with funding of more than $500,000 for a variety of projects.  In 2009, program support generated investments of approximately $7 million in rural and northern Manitoba.

The program has three components:  Meeting Places, Main Street Enhancements and Tree Planting.  Combined with financing from communities, non-profit organizations, co-operatives or businesses, it offers grants of up to $5,000 for communities to improve and enhance outdoor public areas and up to $1,000 for non-profit organizations or small businesses seeking to enhance or improve exterior building appearances or signage.  The tree planting component offers up to $5,000 to municipalities or town organizations to plant trees in public areas.

“The province is pleased to support communities on projects that make their public spaces more attractive to residents and tourists, enhance local buildings in the main street area and develop vacant green space in parks and rest areas,” said Struthers.  “Ultimately, these projects directly benefit families, communities and the province.”

Applications and more information is available from Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives  GO Offices and online at www.manitoba.ca/agriculture/ri.  The application deadline is April 15.

BACKGROUNDER - HOMETOWN MANITOBA

• Hometown Meeting Places supports community projects that enhance main street areas and public places.  Projects may include developing/upgrading/greening outdoor spaces and other enhancements to exterior public and non-profit facilities that are accessible to the general community.  These may include outdoor spaces associated with parks, community gathering places, seniors’ and youth centres, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, schools, libraries, churches, museums, public administration buildings and other similar facilities.
• Hometown Main Streets Enhancements supports projects from non-profit organizations, small businesses and co-operatives that focus on upgrading the appearance of building exteriors, structures and exterior spaces in main street areas.  Projects may include building facelifts and upgrading, new signage that reflects a community theme and landscaping enhancements.
• The Tree Planting Component supports community greening initiatives for rural municipalities and town organizations.  Applicants must purchase shade trees from a Manitoba nursery.  Eligible projects include parks, golf courses or entrances to communities.

Colin Craig Prairie Director - March 29, 2010
A day after the release of Manitoba’s budget, our Saskatchewan neighbours released their own provincial budget. When one compares the level of spending in the two documents, they’re like night and day.  The comparison also makes one wish the Saskatchewan crew had helped out on Manitoba’s spending plans.
 
First off, Manitoba’s budget includes four more years of deficit financing, despite the fact that the recession is behind us. Over the next four years, the gang on Broadway will rack up over $1.5 billion in new debt.
 
If you’re wondering how the Manitoba government can run four straight years of deficits given our province’s balanced budget legislation, the answer is, they can’t. If it wasn’t bad enough that Premier Doer and his crew took a machete to the legislation two years ago, and shot it up with a rocket launcher last year, this year the Selinger government will essentially drive a tank over the tattered document. When they’re done pillaging the act through amendments, fiscal responsibility will no longer be a part of it.
 
It’s a shame really. The original legislation helped ensure governments spent like responsible families. Just as no family would go out and buy a new Corvette if one of its breadwinners were laid off, the legislation essentially made sure a government wouldn’t either.
 
Instead, the government has done anything but control spending. Their own budget documents show that spending is up 5.3 per cent over last year’s budget; approximately nine times our province’s 0.6 per cent inflation rate. By contrast, our Saskatchewan neighbours are increasing spending by 0.001 per cent over last year’s levels - talk about belt-tightening.
 
Despite the slowdown, luxury projects continue abound in Manitoba; $31 million for a new polar bear house in Winnipeg, an extra $1 billion for the west side Bipole 3 boondoggle, a $260 million loan to a U.S. wind power company, $3 million for Greyhound, $16 million in subsidies for movies filmed in the province, potentially more provincial funds for the human rights museum (even though it’s a federal museum) and at least a $100 million contribution for a water plant to remove nitrogen from Winnipeg’s sewage system despite scientists questioning the science behind the decision.
 
The fundamental problem is the Manitoba government has been spending like drunken sailors for the past decade and doesn’t know how to turn off the taps now that the well has run dry. There’s no federal bailout to help them and because wealthy provinces are struggling, they’ll give us less this year in handouts known as “equalization payments.”
 
In addition to cuts in almost every department, the Sask government is reducing their bureaucracy by 1,800 positions over four years and are even cancelling their state run TV channel.
 
It wasn’t all cuts, they’re reallocating more resources to health care and universities. In other words, they’re trimming government fat, but are continuing to support the services most citizens expect from government.
 
Sure, the Saskatchewan government’s budget isn’t perfect. After all, their ‘balanced budget’ is actually a deficit and the cuts could have been deeper. But at the end of the day, they deserve credit for rolling up their sleeves and making tough choices; something Premier Selinger and his government largely ignored.

Kerry Auriat, Brandon Sun - Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Premier Greg Selinger never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

With Manitoba on the brink of financial ruin, rather than use this crisis as an opportunity to remake government, Selinger and his mates chose to bring forward a technically illegal budget that ensures we stick to a mantra of mediocrity now and forever.

When faced with a crisis, there are two choices — to surrender or to fight. In the case of this deficit crisis, Selinger, Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk and friends surrendered.

For this lack of vision, they may never recover and, sadly, they’re taking us along with them.

While this government knew a massive deficit was looming, Selinger should have viewed this unfolding scenario as the perfect storm. It truly is a perfect maelstrom of bad news — falling tax revenues and flat transfer payments contrasted with increasing heath, education and social services expenses. The math doesn’t work.

Worse still, we’re not using deficits to fundamentally improve the future of our province. Selinger isn’t making bold investments to improve the quality of education and health-care outcomes. It has been decades since Manitoba built a new dam. Are we encouraging oil production and funding new potash mines? None of the above is happening. We’re simply bankrupting our children’s futures in order to put off tough decisions today.

There’s both human capital and physical capital.

I believe in education and health care as important investments in human capital just as I believe in a new dam as a physical investment in our province’s future.

But we have to ensure that we’re investing in people and not confuse that with simply spending money.

I would accept a deficit if we were courageously investing in the future. Can you imagine Manitoba 15 years hence if we had world-class education and health-care facilities, hydro dams, potash mines and oil fields that would ensure a prosperous and progressive future for all Manitobans?

Sadly, thanks to the current leadership, the prospects of such a future look grim.

Debt is a tool. A mortgage is good debt. The house appreciates in value and the investment pays off. But consumer debt used to finance an unsustainable lifestyle is a bear trap baited with honey — it tastes good in the short term but watch out for the surprise.

There’s a huge difference between consumer debt and mortgage debt. This government is racking up consumer debt and selling it to us as investments in our province. Don’t confuse spending and investing — there’s a big difference.

We’re living beyond our means. We are unwilling and unable to face this fact. There will be a day of reckoning.

We need to review our health-care system with a fine-tooth comb looking for inefficiencies, waste, fraud and abuse.

Approximately 60 per cent of our provincial budget is dedicated to this money pit — is every dollar being well spent? We need to judge results, not simply count dollars spent as a measure of our commitment.

Let’s put more dollars into preventative medicine that saves Manitobans from costly health-care remedies — this is an investment in human capital.

Saskatchewan provides its residents with a basic personal exemption of $13,348 compared to Manitoba’s $8,134 personal exemption.

Why is this important?

Because working people in Saskatchewan can earn over $5,000 more than similar Manitobans before the tax man comes calling.

In Manitoba, we talk about helping working people, but this basic personal exemption is a clear case of the rhetoric failing to match the reality.

I never thought I’d view Saskatchewan with envy.

This economic crisis has afforded Selinger an opportunity to chart a new course for Manitoba’s future.

We should consider triple “p” partnerships with private enterprise to finance hydro dams. How about new royalty arrangements in the oil patch that will stimulate investment and create new jobs?

Did the potash deposits in Saskatchewan stop at the Manitoba border or have we failed to develop mines on our side? Now is the time to re-energize our province. In doing so, we increase innovation, productivity, create new jobs and wealth.

Some will argue that my ideas are too aggressive. You may be correct, but the same old, same old is giving us the same old results. We’ve lived too long on borrowed money.

In closing, I’d like to share one of my favourite expressions of all time.

To paraphrase Bobby Kennedy: “There’s a special place in hell reserved for those who, in time of a crisis, choose to sit on the fence.”

Last Updated: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 CBC News

The Manitoba Labour Board has ordered an immediate end to a prolonged lockout at the Tembec newsprint mill in Pine Falls, Man., CBC News has learned.

The mill has been idle since Sept.1 after the Montreal-based company locked out more than 250 unionized workers and stopped operations. Prior to closing, the company had said it needed “an immediate and significant reduction” in labour costs to stay competitive in the newsprint market.

The United Steelworkers union had applied to the labour board for arbitration in the labour dispute. This morning, the board ordered Tembec to end the lockout, the union said.

Employees on the picket line have just learned of the new development, United Steelworkers union spokesperson Wayne Skrypnyk said.

Not going back to work
However, unionized employees will not be going back to their jobs in the wake of Wednesday’s announcement.

Tembec announced in December that it was putting the mill up for sale and would not be resuming operations even if the lockout was ended.

Skrypnyk said the lockout’s end isn’t considered a victory for the union workers, but will come as some relief to them as they’ll now be issued layoff notices and become eligible for Employment Insurance benefits.

An arbitrator will still be appointed to try and resolve outstanding issues between labour and management, Skrypnyk said.

The mill is about 130 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

In an age of western co-operation, one province is left out in the cold

Hugh McFadyen was interviewed by MacLean’s magazine a few months back on the topic “Why is Manitoba always left out of the west?” His comments clearly had great influence on the resulting piece that was published in this week’s edition.

Follow this link, or read the story below.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/12/lost-in-the-west/

by Nancy Macdonald on Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Recently in Vancouver, Canada’s three westernmost governments signed yet another co-operative declaration. The “Declaration on Open Skies” calls for the removal of “unnecessary barriers” to open up access to “the three western provinces,” offering “direct, unfettered” transportation links—part of a broader western strategy to create a more open, competitive and efficient regional market. In what almost seemed an afterthought, Manitoba, rather than being offered a seat at the table, was sent the paperwork for review. This came hard on the heels of another new agreement aiming, according to a Saskatchewan government news release, to create the “largest barrier-free trade and investment market in Canada.” Here again, Manitoba, the only left-leaning government in the West, did not sign on—highlighting Manitoba’s growing exclusion from the western club, a troubling trend.

It’s not the only headache facing Manitoba’s newly minted premier, Greg Selinger. He was sworn in just three days before being slammed by warnings of bankruptcy and blackouts at Manitoba Hydro, a Crown corporation owned by the province. This fall, a New York consultant-turned-whistle-blower also alleged that mismanagement has cost the public utility $1 billion. Selinger isn’t just the premier handed this mess; he was also, for years, the minister responsible for Hydro.

The province’s debt load, meanwhile, is higher than when the NDP took office a decade ago. The West’s once-in-a-lifetime boom seems to be over—before Manitoba ever had a chance to cash in. As billions churned through B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, it alone was unaffected—the province the boom forgot. And now, amid unprecedented regional co-operation, the province, scolded by economists for its competitive disadvantage and too-beefy regulatory burdens, is increasingly out of step with its western neighbours, who are aligning policies and political strategies, even hosting joint cabinet meetings to better act as a bloc. This creates “huge risks” for Manitoba, including being “completely isolated from major markets and population centres,” says Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen.

Even Saskatchewan, Canada’s “breadbasket basket case,” and for generations Manitoba’s pathetic sister province, has roared to life. The province has undertaken the country’s most substantive tax reform in two decades, making it competitive with B.C. and Alberta, and luring new business and investment to Regina and Saskatoon, says Niels Veldhuis, senior economist at the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute. Tax reform and belt-tightening came simultaneous to the first flow of natural resource revenue: Saskatchewan has since socked away well over $1 billion in oil and potash wealth.

Manitoba’s problem, critics say, is not a paucity of opportunity; it may not have uranium or natural gas, but it boasts a diverse economy with agriculture, manufacturing, hydroelectricity and mining. Boeing’s new fleet of 787 Dreamliner airplanes was built in the Peg, as were B.C.’s new fuel cell buses. A year ago, southeastern Manitoba boasted the country’s lowest unemployment rate. But, of late, its biggest business “by far,” says David MacKinnon, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax, is “getting money out of other Canadians via the federal government.” Almost 40 cents of every dollar Manitoba spends is being mailed in from Ottawa—which, he adds, can lead to curious decision-making. Even as the economic crisis hit in 2008, Manitoba’s nurses were awarded a 10 per cent wage increase over the previous year, making them among the highest paid in the country. B.C., which does not receive equalization, announced a $3-billion deficit for 2009 and health care cuts totalling $360 million. Manitoba—economic “la-la land,” according to one Saskatchewan minister—was, meanwhile, one of two provinces to announce a surplus.

Whether Manitoba will continue to be showered with record levels of transfers is unclear: Ontario and Alberta, which contribute 60 per cent of this funding, have each announced record deficits for the year—$25 billion and $7 billion, respectively. Even before the recession, Ontario had begun campaigning for a new deal, arguing it makes no sense that “have-not” Manitoba can put more teachers, doctors and nurses per capita on the public payroll.

On the face of it, Winnipeg looks better than it has in years, with a new airport and the spectacular new Manitoba Hydro building downtown. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has broken ground at the Forks, and University of Winnipeg chancellor Lloyd Axworthy is almost single-handedly remodelling west Portage Avenue with a string of campus expansions. But look closer—it’s a boom funded by the public purse. At a certain point, economists warn, growing government will crowd out private investment entirely.