The Gerrard Report

Today, Cindy Lamoureux and Dougald Lamont announced our Manitoba Liberal Party approach to supporting seniors.  It is below: Manitoba Liberals’ Seniors Platform Commits to Health, Dignity and Independence Tyndall Park, WINNIPEG – MLA candidate for Tyndall Park, Cindy Lamoureux, and Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont announced  Friday  that a Manitoba Liberal Government will complete the promise that Brian Pallister couldn’t  —  building 1200 affordable seniors’ units and improving home care programs.  Lamoureux was Seniors’ Critic for the Manitoba Liberal Party and worked with the Long-Term Care Association of Manitoba before being elected.   “When you look at the Pallister government’s cuts to health care and personal care homes, it’s clear that seniors are not a priority for his government,” said Lamont. “Manitoba Liberals are committed to ensuring that seniors across Manitoba can live independently with dignity.”   In the 2016 election, Brian Pallister promised to “fast tra

Over the course of the history of Manitoba, immigrants have contributed in an extraordinary way to our province.   Immigrants will continue to help build Manitoba and improve our society and our economy.   Manitoba Liberals will make sure Manitoba is very welcoming to immigrants.  Our announcement yesterday is below.  Manitoba Liberals Will End Pallister Immigration Head Tax,  Create New Stream to Reunite Families   WINNIPEG -  Manitoba Liberals will return Manitoba to the most welcoming province in Canada, by creating a “Family Reunification Stream” of the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) and removing the $500 head tax brought in by the PCs. Liberals say the reason to focus on family reunification is both humane, economic, and helps build communities because family members are more likely to stay in Winnipeg.  “The great promise of Manitoba is that people from all over the world can come here to build a new life,” said Lamont. “When we reunite families, people are more lik

With Hector Swanson (centre) and Lorna Liddle in Neepawa Today I was with Hector Swanson, our Liberal candidate in Agassiz constituency, to announce that a Liberal government in Manitoba will build a regional hospital in Neepawa.   Neepawa is a rapidly growing community which has increased in population from about two thousand twenty years ago to almost 5,000 today.   It is ideally suited for a site for a regional hospital.  To make this announcement, we stood near the Country Meadows personal care home which is an ideal location.   Indeed, when the care home was built, I understand the water and sewage, the kitchen and the laundry facilities were built large enough to accommodate a hospital beside the personal care home.   As I indicated in Neepawa this initiative to build the regional hospital in Neepawa will fit well with our plans to phase out the Regional Health Authorities and return facilities like this to local control, but with requirements to meet provincial standards. 

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

Many, many people came to the Assiniboine Park this evening to the Lyric Theatre to listen to candidates from all political parties talk about child care and early childhood education.  The size of the crowd reflects the intense concern about the need for better access to quality child care and early childhood education in Manitoba.  John Cacayuran presented our Liberal plan.   It is a very strong plan for improving access to high quality child care and early childhood education.  It was the best plan presented.   You can see it at this link -   https://jongerrardsreport.blogspot.com/2019/08/child-care-and-early-childhood.html .  With Cyndy Frisen our Liberal candidate in Fort Rouge. 

Earlier today, Dougald Lamont announced the Manitoba Liberal approach to restoring dignity to those on low incomes and to addressing and working to eliminate poverty in Manitoba.  The announcement and Dougald Lamont's speech are below.  Lifting People out of Poverty: The Manitoba Liberal Plan for Jobs & Fair Incomes   WINNIPEG - Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont announced a major plank in his party’s platform to end decades of neglect and inaction on poverty in Manitoba under the PCs and NDP alike with a series of measures designed to ensure all Manitobans receive a livable income by 2024. For many years, Manitoba has had some of the deepest poverty in Canada and the number of people on welfare has been rising steadily since 2008 to an all-time high of over 71,000 people. 20% of Manitobans have not seen an increase in their incomes in 40 years. Many basic income supports have not increased since 1993, when Brian Pallister voted to roll them to 1986 levels. Unde

Yesterday afternoon, Manitoba Liberals announced a well-thought out plan for child care and early childhood education which will address the current long waitlists, will fund currently unfunded spaces, address low salaries and help those most in need.  The full proposal and the background information is below.  Manitoba Liberals will end waitlists, promote literacy and address salaries and access issues with child care and early childhood education plan A Manitoba Liberal Government will create 18,000 child care spaces to eliminate the waitlist for childcare spaces in Manitoba and ensure there are more spaces as demand grows, said Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont.  The PCs have committed to creating one sixth that amount. Under the NDP, the number of children on childcare waiting lists ballooned to about 12,000 in 2016. Under the Pallister Conservatives, the numbers on the waiting lists have exploded to more than 16,000, wages are substandard, and operating grants hav