Saying Thank You to Pat Wege on her retirement as Executive Director of the Manitoba Child Care Association

Tuesday May 22, I had the opportunity to speak in the Manitoba Legislature to recognize Pat Wege for her contributions over many years to promoting child care and early childhood education in our province. My comments are below.

Mr. Gerrard: Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate Pat Wege on many, many successful years as the executive director of the Manitoba Child Care Association. Your contributions and achievements are many. You have been very strong in keeping governments of all stripes to account. You've always been pointing out that Manitoba should be doing more in terms of child care and improving the quality and how important this is to children and families here in Manitoba.

It is good to see that there has been some increase in funding, largely due to the federal government, in the last couple of years. But there is still a long way to go, and even as we continue the journey forward, it is the steps that Pat Wege has taken over the last number of years that are–continue to push this forward.

So thank you, Pat, merci, miigwech, for all your good work.

Comments

Comparison between Manitoba and South Dakota shows dramatic impact of Physical Distancing

Manitoba implemented physical distancing measures in mid-March. South Dakota has still not made physical distancing mandatory. The result is a dramatic difference in the incidence of covid-19 viral infections between the two jurisdictions. This graph shows the number of people with Covid-19 infections from March 27 to April 14. Manitoba ( red line ) started leveling off about April 4 and has seen only a small increase in Covid-19 infections since then. South Dakota ( blue line ) has seen a dramatic increase in Covid-19 infections since April 4. Those who are skeptical of the impact of physical distancing in Manitoba should look at this graph! Data are from the Johns Hopkins daily tabulations

Pushing for safe consumption sites and safe supply to reduce overdose deaths

On Monday June 20th, Thomas Linner of the Manitoba Health Coalition, Arlene Last-Kolb Regional Director of Moms Stop the Harm and Winnipeg City Councillor Sherri Rollins were at the Manitoba Legislature to advocate for better measures to reduce deaths from drug overdoses, most particularly for safe consumption sites and for a safe supply, measures which can reduce overdose deaths.

There is an imperative to have a provincial plan to ensure every child learns to read

Too many Manitoba children with learning disabilities like dyslexia are not being identified and helped early on starting in Kindergarten and grades 1 and 2. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that it is the provinces responsibility to ensure that every child learns to read, and even when, in the case of a child with dyslexia intensive intervention is needed. In 12 years Manitoba has failed to produce a provincial plan to address this issue. We are holding a Forum (see below) on this subject. Please come out to the Forum. There is no cost. Everyone is welcome. To learn more about the need to do better helping children, youth and adults with a learning disability click on this link

The Gerrard Report

Search This Blog