The Implementation Plan for changes to Manitoba's mental health and addictions approach, including prevention, is delayed until the fall of 2018

Thursday June 21, I asked the Minister of Health in the Manitoba Legislature about his approach to prevention of mental health and addictions issues. In his response, the Minister said any progress will have to wait for his implementation plan in the fall. This is very disappointing given that the Pallister government was elected in the spring of 2016, and this will be two and a half years after the election before there is even a plan to move forward. The exchange, from Hansard, is below:

Mr. Gerrard: There are many other areas of health care where prevention is important. One of those is in terms of mental health and addictions. And so I would ask the minister what his plans are with regard to prevention of mental health and addictions.

Mr. Goertzen: So we spoke a little bit about this a little earlier this afternoon. No question, the co‑ordination between mental health and addictions is a priority of the government. He's seen that with the release of the VIRGO report, which indicated that for many years, decades, that there's been poor co-ordination between the mental health and addictions system in Manitoba. And so I think if he's looking for our plans when it comes to those two areas, he could certainly look at the VIRGO report for guidance. We expect an implementation plan to be provided by the department in fall of this year.

Mr. Gerrard: I'm, I must say, still a little bit disappointed that the implementation plan will not come before fall of this year. That's going to be a full two and a half years after the minister became Health Minister, and progress has been taking a long time, and one would've hoped for more quicker action on something that's as important as that.

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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

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