Criticism of Manitoba Conservative government and Pallister

On to other issues now, a report was released on how low wages in child care make it difficult to recruit and retain staff:

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"When I can have a staff say to me, 'I can go work at Shoppers Drug Mart and make more money than I can working in daycare,'" — Farrow said she is left dejected.

She's tried to convince two employees at her Stars of Promise daycare in northeast Winnipeg to get more training, but they don't see the point.

"They told me: why would I do this when there's no money in this field?" Farrow said. "Why should I come out owing $10,000 or more in student loans, and get peanuts — $15.50 [an hour]."

...

These are big blows to a sector already reeling from a provincial grant that's been stagnant since 2016, and by having parent fees capped by the province since 2013.

"If this government truly believes in their mantra of 'cradle to grave of Manitobans' then a robust and effective child care policy is part of this," Brianne Goertzen, a coalition member, told a news conference Wednesday.

The big issue is that funding for centres has been capped, and the centres are also not able to raise rates. There are calls to allow centres to charge rates based on income, however that sounds too much like means testing to me. It should instead be funded publicly, and those who can afford more can pay higher income taxes. This also after Assinibione Community College is suspending its Distance Education program, again citing funding issues:

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The college said the pause on registration happened because a subsidy provided by the province for distance education courses has been used up, after enrolment numbers swelled for several distance programs.

"We've exhausted the funds right now," said Karen Hargreaves, dean of health and human services at Assiniboine Community College. 

Students enrolled in distance education for early childhood education, educational assistant (EA) and early childhood program management must now wait until July to register for new courses. It affects 331 students.

Unlike the full-time programs where enrolment numbers are fixed, the part-time distance programs allow for continuous registrations and applications and more time for students to complete each course.

"This is temporary. The program will continue, they'll be able to finish their program, but when you're in a high-demand program sometimes you have to wait to get into it," she said. 

The province is aware of the high demand for the programs, she said, adding that a funding increase would help the school increase capacity.

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Meanwhile, a PC MLA is under fire for criticizing a proposed breakfast program:

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James Teitsma, Conservative MLA for Radisson, took to Twitter to share his criticism of the proposed breakfast program, calling it a bad idea.

"Don't get me wrong – kids need breakfast," Teitsma said on Twitter. "But they need to eat breakfast IN THEIR HOME even more."

In a longer post on his website, Teitsma said the breakfast program does not address the root issues in the home.

"We need to understand why the children are not getting breakfast at home and take steps to ensure that they do," Teitsma wrote. "A universal school breakfast program doesn't do that."

Teitsma went on to say, providing a universal breakfast program could discourage and remove the responsibility from parents.

It's not just the financial aspect. Having breakfast together also helps foster community among children. Perhaps more time spent in community without digital distractions would be a good thing.

It makes sense that a right-winger would say that-that part of the political spectrum hates the idea of large groups of people doing things like having breakfast together, or doing anything ELSE together.  That was the whole point of creating the concept of the suburbs-to hive people off into individual compartments so that they will have no reasl shared experience and no real sense of community.

epaulo13 wrote:

Get Moving on Climate: A Transportation Event

Friday, March 13, 2020 at 6 PM – 9 PM

Dakota Community Centre

1188 Dakota Street

Attend expert-led breakout sessions & participate in discussion on what transportation could look like in a zero-carbon Manitoba!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manitoba's Climate Action Team wants to Get Moving on Climate! We're here to ask the question: How can we transport people and goods without the use of fossil fuels?

You can join local experts in breakout sessions to discuss:

- Active transportation
- Public transit
- Goods transportation
- Inter-city and rural transit
- Ride and car sharing
- Electrification and automation

Learn what policies need to be implemented to build a resilient future for Manitobans in the climate emergency! We'll talk about what these transportation systems look like in Manitoba and explore how they'll help us meet emissions targets for a zero-carbon future.

Doors open at 5:00 PM

Tickets are on a By Donation / Pay-What-You-Can Basis:

As an aside, I have to ask how this group came to a decision to have an event like this on a Friday evening, during a time when people are thinking more about socializing than activism? That's probably one of the worst times to have an event like this.

Manitoba seeks to silence Child's Special Allowances clawback challenges

One month ago, the Pallister government introduced Bill 34: the Budget Implementation and Tax Statutes Amendment Act.

One of more than 20 the Manitoba Tories stacked up prior to delivering the 2020 budget, the bill is mostly standard procedure. Part 6, for example, eliminates tax refunds on goods removed from Canada.

Buried under the subsequent avalanche of novel coronavirus news and concern, it sat, until its first reading during an emergency legislative session Wednesday.

Now, Manitobans are learning the potential of its full impact.

Deep in its pages is Part 9 — entitled "Other Amendments" — which proposes to deal with "the federal special allowances for children that Child and Family Services agencies received or were eligible to receive for children in care between January 1, 2005, and March 31, 2019."

This section proposes a radical change that would permanently keep money earmarked for children in care and remove their ability to disagree.

"It’s unprecedented," says Cindy Blackstock, a national Indigenous child advocate and executive of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada. "No other province is doing anything like it."....

Aristotleded24 wrote:

I actually think that the austerity measures this government will bring to balance the budget after this is over are going to do far more damage to this province than coronavirus could ever have done.

Looks like I'm being proven correct:

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Brian Pallister's Progressive Conservative government has told Manitoba universities to figure out how to cut their budgets by as much as 30 per cent in order to help the province survive the financial maelstrom of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Universities, which already have laid off hundreds of employees, contend they're trying to manage increased demands from students at a time when many are out of work. The schools say they don't know how they can operate with reduced funding, never mind prepare the provincial workforce for the post-pandemic economy.

The province gave universities a Tuesday deadline to prepare scenarios for budget cuts of 10, 20 and 30 per cent over the next four months, either by cutting back on their workforces or by reducing other expenditures.

Mr Kinew, it is time to step up to the plate here. Do a daily podcast. Fireside chats. Call a virtual press conference and outline an alternative pandemic plan. Anything, it doesn't matter what it is. We need leadership more than ever, and it's time for you to seriously introduce yourself to the public to show them that things don't have to be the way Pallister says they have to be.

Not necessarily a fan of businessman and ex-chair of Manitoba Hydro, but I agree with his opinion piece:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/sandy-riley-manitoba-cuts-1.5539740

**Socially-Distanced Action at the Legislative Building on May 1st, 12pm: a Honk-a-thon and Signs! **

By cutting jobs and social services that people desperately rely on, the Pallister government is hurting Manitoba. These cuts will hurt vulnerable Manitobans the most, and are out of step with what economists, academics, other governments and community agencies recommend to maintain a stable economy and position Manitoba properly for the post-pandemic future.

We are protesting these cuts. We support community, not cuts.
If you want to see our government make better choices,

If you want to see our government investing in our communities instead, participate in a socially-distanced action at the Legislative Building on May 1st, 12pm: a Honk-a-thon and Signs!

HOW TO TAKE PART:

STEP 1: Make a sign
- Tell Brian Pallister why we need investment in communities, not cuts!
- Make sure there is a way to stake it in the ground! We will also have some extra stakes available on Friday.
- Want to join others in getting creative? Join the online art-build tomorrow (Wednesday the 29th): https://www.facebook.com/events/1536578169846639

STEP 2: Complete this google form to organize drop off or pickup of your sign: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQEetsYhUUKeNvhgB8vxxQ5huvUVa7rMofdd80KTZWIpkZHQ/viewform

All the above very on point, epaulo. Thanks.

..more from above

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What is this really about?

Pallister has declared a four-month buffer period for the cuts, but many believe they will remain long after the crisis has ended and may even intensify later on. In the words of Wab Kinew, leader of Manitoba’s NDP, “I don’t think anybody expects Pallister to cut a job and then bring it back in the future.”

Considering Manitoba’s deficit is expected to grow to $5 billion during the pandemic, it would not be a stretch to see the Conservative government take extreme action to re-gain lost ground.

As the infamous University of Chicago economist Milton Freidman wrote, “only a crisis–actual or perceived–produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas lying around.” Progressive author and commentator Naomi Klein has warned against the powers of elites to profit from crisis and push forward ‘shock doctrine’ policies which, under regular circumstances, would be exceedingly difficult.

In an interview with a service provider employed in the non-profit sector, Canadian Dimension asked what the aftermath of the crisis will mean for the public sector. She expressed anxiety about Pallister’s tendency towards austerity:

He doesn’t care about non-profits. He doesn’t care about social issues. If we let this happen it will remain. I think this is a way of getting what he’s wanted for a long time and it’s a dangerous thing to believe that it’s only going to last for four months… social services will be cut drastically. If we think that pressing issues such as gender-based violence, family violence, poverty, addiction is bad as is, it’s going to get much worse if people can’t access resources. With budget cuts and shutting down organizations that are doing essential frontline work for these issues during the pandemic, it’s going to completely expedite everything Manitoba is dealing with right now. We’re not going to be dealing with exclusively a financial deficit, it’s going to be socially crippling as well. The issues that were there before the pandemic are still here during the pandemic and if we cut resources now, they are going to be considerably worse after.

Jaqueline Romanow, President of the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association has described Pallister’s agenda as “disturbing.” The President of the University of Manitoba’s Faculty Association, Janet Morrill, reiterated this stance noting, “this is not the time to balance budgets on the back of institutions which are going to be essential for getting [us] out of this.”

The Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations also indicated that they reject Pallister’s austerity agenda, asserting, “Mr. Pallister himself admitted that cuts to the public sector would cover only a dime of every dollar of deficit financing needed to see Manitoba through the crisis. That level of saving is not worth gutting institutions that are an essential part of the economy and social fabric of Manitoba.” The funding cuts indicate, more than anything, an abuse of political power during a perilous crisis when the public is immobilized.

Manitobans must hold the Pallister government to account and prevent it from capitalizing on the anxiety produced by the pandemic to benefit his austerity agenda. Sacrifice, after all, is the rhetoric of the powerful.

laine lowe wrote:

Pallister has always been frightening and ambitious. Now that he finally has power, Manitobans are in for a rough ride - similar to the hell Ontarians went through with Harris.

I don't think there is any similarity between the 2 situations. Harris was presiding over a somewhat stable economy, so while the cuts were brutal, at least there was that. The economy in Manitoba has blown up completely, there was vicious austerity even before coronavirus, and Pallister is stubbornly doubling down on his austerity agenda when even conservative premiers in other provinces have been more generous. I think this will be worse than what happened with Harris.

Ken Burch wrote:

It may have to come to a repeat of THIS:

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/winnipeg-general-strike

Only this time, with accompanying general strikes in Brandon, Steinbach, Thompson, Portage La Prairie and every other significant community in the province.

Steinbach would be a bit of a challenge because even as popular as Gary Doer was a PC candidate could still expect to win that seat (which has a high Mennonite concentration) with a ham sandwich running under that banner. I agree on the rest of the communities, and have said for years that Winnipeg is too divided by class for a Winnipeg-only strategy to be effective. Even though the NDP has never won Portage, I agree that it should be a focus for the NDP as well. It is a major city in the province, grappling with the issues that other cities are, and it also has a large First Nations population with a First Nation close by. Dauphin is another interesting case, considering the anger over the closure of the local jail which even local community based groups into restorative justice are opposed to.

He really has an arrogant tone and often sounds like he is scolding people that question him. At the start, I thought he behaved better than I expected from him but in recent weeks, his obsession with cost-cutting has just been beyond irritating and extremely frustrating. Back to form, Pallister. Among my friends, we joke that he is super cranky because his Costa Rica stay was cut short.

That seems like a pointless change and asking for more effort to be made to use the pass. So how does it work if someone wants to access the park by bike or even on foot?

So Pallister went there - I guess he couldn't help his racist self. After declining attendance at a Black Life Matters rally at the Legislature this weekend due to doctor's orders (elder with asthma) he had to add after saying that he knows black lives matter, "all lives matter".  Freaking asshole. Also, he is pretty cavalier about protecting other vulnerable people who are on the frontlines and may have asthma and other serious underlying conditions.

Premier Wab Kinew?

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Support for the PCs among Manitoba voters who are either leaning toward a certain party or who have already decided who they would mark their ballot for dropped five points (down to 38 per cent) compared to the last Probe Research poll done in March.

Meanwhile, more than one-third of Manitobans (or 36 per cent) would now back the provincial NDP — a three per cent jump since March.

The poll suggests the NDP leads over the PCs in most areas of seat-dense Winnipeg (with 44 per cent support compared to 25 per cent), with the exception of the southeast part of the city, where the two parties are statistically tied.

Support for the Manitoba Liberal Party went up four percent (to 18 per cent) since the last poll, while support for the Green Party went down one percent (to 14 per cent). In Winnipeg, the Liberals have 21 per cent support and the Greens have 8 per cent, the poll suggests.

Fourteen per cent of Manitoba voters surveyed are still undecided, the poll suggests.

It's encouraging, but more needs to be done. The NDP needs to be at a rock-solid 40% at least to be in contention. I would also like to see numbers for rural Manitoba, which unfortunatley the Probe poll does not make easily accessible.

I am upset with Pallister's latest move to usher in two-tier medicine. Of course there is a backlog on surgeries but Pallister gutted the public health system before the pandemic. Now he is claiming that to deal with the backlog, contracts will be given to both public and private health services providers. Who the hell are these private health care providers that can provide surgery? And why not just rehire all the people that were let go by Pallister so that our public health care system can do what it was mandated to do?

Talk about the mask literally coming off:

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Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister admits he made a mistake after he was photographed Tuesday without a mask at Toronto's Pearson airport.

He was breaking an airport rule mandating face coverings for travellers to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

"I lifted my mask to join some friends in conversation at the Toronto airport this afternoon. It was an error on my part, it won't happen again," Pallister said in an email Tuesday. 

Pallister appeared to be waiting at a departure gate, according to two photos that surfaced on Twitter.

He was in the company of several travellers, including federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, who also wasn't wearing a mask. 

Pallister told media last week he was concerned about flying during the COVID-19 pandemic, since he's a senior with asthma.

Since June 1, the airport has required masks for "all passengers and airport employees" in public spaces "at all times."

"This includes the pre- and post-security screening areas of the terminals, parking facilities, people mover train, sidewalks/curbs outside the terminals and other outdoor public areas," the Pearson website says.

So after berating a bunch of poor kids for playing basketball outside in the spring (probably one of the only forms of recreation they still had access to) and saying that he didn't feel safe attending the Black Lives Matter protests on account of being in the high risk category, he goes and is caught not wearing a  mask in an *airport* which is bringing in all kinds of germs from God knows where?

Reprehensible piece of work, this guy is.

A roundabout way to improve highway safety in Manitoba?

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A roundabout will be built at the intersection of the Trans-Canada and Yellowhead highways, west of Winnipeg.

The provincial and federal government are partnering to build a roundabout at the intersection west of Portage la Prairie, Premier Brian Pallister announced Thursday.

The junction of Highways 1 and 16 in Manitoba is the convergence point of two major east-west corridors in western Canada. Despite the use of traffic lights and new signs, it's been the site of many serious crashes in recent years.

"It remains one of the more dangerous intersections in our province. We've seen some tragedies there," Pallister said.

Three people have died in the past five years, he said.

"But we've also seen 22 traffic accidents which could have resulted in many more deaths and did result in many injuries," he said.

PC MLA denounces racist attacks:

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A Progressive Conservative member of the legislative assembly is denouncing an act of racism after a bus bench with her image in her riding was defaced with the N-word.

MLA Audrey Gordon (Southdale) said the racist slur that was scrawled across her forehead in the ad doesn't represent the views of residents living near Cottonwood Road and Autumnwood Drive, where the bus bench is located.

"I am shocked and saddened by the senseless act of one individual who aimed to spread hate and division within our community," Gordon said in a statement.

"Actions like this have no place in this country, this province and in this city. We value inclusiveness and diversity."

Gordon was among a trio of the Black MLAs to be elected in Manitoba last fall — the first three in the province.

This is despicable and inexcuseable. The focus should be kept on the policy decisions of the party that Audrey Gordon is a member of. Racist attacks have no place in our public discourse at all.