Skip to main content

Why is the Pallister government not helping learners who are struggling - and have not yet even committed to an Accessibility Standard?


Tuesday, May 29, I asked the Premier in Question Period why his government has not put forward a plan to help learners who are struggling, and has not even committed to an education standard for under the Accessability for Manitobans Act.  My question and the Premier's response is below.

Request for Education Accessibility Plan

Mr. Gerrard: Madam Speaker, a good way to improve overall student learning, if the Premier wants, is helping those who are struggling, including indigenous learners and including students with learning disabilities: speech, hearing and vision issues in children. Yet the government has not presented a credible plan to help those who are struggling and having difficulty and has not even committed to develop an accessible education standard under The Accessibility for Manitobans Act.

      Why has the government not presented a plan to address and help learners who are struggling?

Mr. Pallister:  I can share with the member that in my few years of teaching, that some of the most rewarding experiences I had personally were working with the children he describes in his preamble, and assisting them in upgrading their reading skills and learning skills. And I know that teachers across the province who have so engaged would share that same view with him.
      It is a view that I think all members of this House share, that we want to upgrade the skills of young people, in particular those who are challenged in their ability to read, and their cognitive skill development is very, very critical. So we continue to advance the cause of sustainable education system in our province with a focus on making sure that we can help every child find the real potential that exists with inside them.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dougald Lamont speaks at Meth Forum last night to present positive ideas to address the epidemic, while exposing the lack of action by the Pallister Conservatives

Last night at the Notre Dame Recreation Centre in St. Boniface, at an Election Forum on the Meth Crisis in Manitoba, Dougald Lamont spoke eloquently about the severity of the meth epidemic and described the Liberal plan to address it.  The Liberal Plan will make sure that there is a single province-wide phone number for people, or friends of people, who need help dealing with meth to call (as there is in Alberta) and that there will be rapid access to a seamless series of steps - stabilization, detoxification, treatment, extended supportive housing etc so that people with meth addiction can be helped well and effectively and so that they can rebuild their lives.  The Liberal meth plan will be helped by our approach to mental health (putting psychological therapies under medicare), and to poverty (providing better support).  It will also be helped by our vigorous efforts to help young people understand the problems with meth in our education system and to provide alternative positive

Manitoba Liberal accomplishments

  Examples of Manitoba Liberal accomplishments in the last three years Ensured that 2,000 Manitoba fishers were able to earn a living in 2020   (To see the full story click on this link ). Introduced a bill that includes retired teachers on the Pension Investment Board which governs their pension investments. Introduced amendments to ensure school aged children are included in childcare and early childhood education plans moving forward. Called for improvements in the management of the COVID pandemic: ·          We called for attention to personal care homes even before there was a single case in a personal care home. ·            We called for a rapid response team to address outbreaks in personal care homes months before the PCs acted.  ·          We called for a science-based approach to preparing schools to   improve ventilation and humidity long before the PCs acted. Helped hundreds of individuals with issues during the pandemic including those on social assistance

The Indigenous Science Conference in Winnipeg June 14-16

  June 14 to 16, I spent three days at the Turtle Island Indigenous Science Conference.  It was very worthwhile.   Speaker after speaker talked of the benefits of using both western or mainstream science and Indigenous science.  There is much we can learn from both approaches.   With me above is Myrle Ballard, one of the principal organizers of the conference.  Myrle Ballard, from Lake St. Martin in Manitoba, worked closely with Roger Dube a professor emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology, and many others to make this conference, the first of its kind, a success.  As Roger Dube, Mohawk and Abenaki, a physicist, commented "My feeling is that the fusion of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science methodology should rapidly lead the researchers to much more holistic solutions to problems."   Dr. Myrle Ballard was the first person from her community to get a PhD.  She is currently a professor at the University of Manitoba and the Director of Indigenous Science