The Gerrard Report

Today Dougald Lamont and the Manitoba Liberal Party came out substantially ahead of Blandine Tona of the NDP in the St. Boniface by-election.   Francoise Therrien-Vrignon of the Green Party was in third and Mamadou Ka of the Progressive Conservatives was fourth.  This is a major victory for Dougald Lamont and the Manitoba Liberal Party.  It will mean our Liberal Leader is in the Legislature.  It will also mean that the Manitoba Liberal Party will have what is called "Official Party Status" in the Manitoba Legislature, with more resources and more ability to contribute inside and outside the Legislature - in holding the government to account and in contributing constructively to helping achieve a better Manitoba. 

It is the evening before the by-election in St. Boniface constituency which is tomorrow from 8 am to 8 pm.  Thank you to MaryAnn Mihychuk and Dan Vandal and Judy Klassen and everyone else for coming out to help this evening.  This photo was taken just before Judy arrived so she is not in it.  But Judy did good work going door to door with the rest of us.  Thank you all.   

Yesterday afternoon Dan Vandal and many, many more people joined the door to door campaign to elect Dougald Lamont in St. Boniface in the by-election this Tuesday July 17th.  If you live in St. Boniface, and have not yet voted, be sure to get out to vote for Dougald Lamont on Tuesday.  Thank you.

Friday July 13th Councillor John Orlikow, Mayor Brian Bowman and Councillor Mike Pagtakhan were present to announce the site for the new Bill and Helen Norrie Library in River Heights.   It will be located at the corner of Grant and Cambridge near the Pan Am Pool.   

Wednesday July 11 Disability Matters and Barrier Free Manitoba staged a rally on Provencher Boulevard to bring attention to the need to improve access in Manitoba for people with disabilities.  There is much that is needed to be done.  Dougald Lamont and I were out to show our Manitoba Liberal Party support for this important cause.  My friend David Weremy was very involved with the rally.   

Yesterday, Kevin and Cathy Lamoureux joined the team in going door to door in St. Boniface.    My wife Naomi was particularly pleased to see Cathy as well as Kevin.  Naomi has been stalwart in coming out to help and it was nice to see other family members joining in as well.

Yesterday, Dougald Lamont released his full platform for the by-election campaign in St. Boniface.  It is below: Dougald Lamont, Leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party and candidate for MLA in St. Boniface, released the major policy planks of his St. Boniface platform today.   The commitments build on Lamont’s 2017 leadership platform - creating a Manitoba Business Development Bank, dismantling RHAs, and a study into rail relocation, as well as specific commitments to French language education and culture: restoring the Bureau de l’éducation française and making St. Boniface a creative “hub” for arts, culture, heritage and tourism, is an idea that came from the community, and it is by listening to and working with the people at the grassroots level that we will move forward.   “For St. Boniface voters, this by-election is your opportunity to elect a leader who shares your progressive values and will add strong new opposition to Pallister, right from the front bench in the legi

Terry Duguid and Doug Eyolfson were out last night to support Dougald Lamont in his bid to be the next MLA in St. Boniface and to help with our efforts going door-to-door to have a conversation with people in St. Boniface. Thank you Terry and Doug. 

This afternoon, Bidhu Jha and Jim Bear came out to show their support for Dougald Lamont in his campaign to become the next MLA in St. Boniface.   With election day coming soon - on July 17th, this was an important show of support.  As Bidhu Jha, a former NDP MLA for Radisson indicated to the Winnipeg Free Press press recently he " is no longer a party member and laments its leadership at both the provincial and federal level."   Today, he showed his support for our Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont.  Thank you Bidhu Jha for your support.  Chief Jim Bear served for many years as the Chief of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, and is highly respected as a leader in the Indigenous community in Manitoba. Thank you Jim Bear for your support.  To have endorsements and support from two such leaders is impressive and shows the breadth of the support Dougald Lamont is building during this election campaign.       

I have put forward strong reasons for having a province-wide preventative health care services pl an.  This plan is essential to improve the health of our population and to decrease health care costs in our province.  Sadly under the NDP and so far under the Conservatives such planning has been very limited and we currently lack a province-wide preventative health services plan.   As a result, we are continuing to see increases in the number of Manitobans with conditions like diabetes, HIV and addictions problems - as with the current methamphetamine epidemic.  I have raised all these concerns in the Manitoba Legislature. Increasing evidence now supports the fact that well designed investments in prevention can improve health and decrease health care costs starting in the first year.  It is is of great concern that we are well into the third year of the current Pallister government and yet we still do not have a province-wide preventative health services plan, or even a commitment

Elections Manitoba has issues a press release - with the information below - related to the advance voting beginning today in the St. Boniface by-election PROVINCIAL BYELECTION IN ST. BONIFACE ADVANCE VOTING BEGINS TODAY  Election day for the St. Boniface byelection is Tuesday, July 17 but eligible voters may vote in advance beginning today, July 5, until Thursday, July 12. Eligible voters may vote at one of the two locations shown below:  To be eligible to vote, individuals must:  Be Canadian citizens  Be at least 18 years old on election day  Have lived in Manitoba for at least six months immediately before election day  Live in the St. Boniface electoral division All voters must show ID to vote, either one piece of government-issued photo identification (such as a driver's license) or two other documents with their name. The Voter Information Card can be used as one of the two pieces of ID. For a complete list of acceptable ID, visit http://www.electionsmanit

Thank you Jim Carr for joining us this evening to campaign to help elect Dougald Lamont in St. Boniface.   The election is on July 17, less than 2 weeks away and it was a boost to the campaign to have Jim Carr present and helping.  Thank you Jim 

Contradicting the view of some that preventive care only saves dollars in the long term, Dr. Emery's study shows the impact of a health care prevention program can have a major impact in the first year it is implemented. The preventative care program, implemented in Alberta provided participants access to a team of physicians, naturopathic doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and dentists.  It focuses on a combination of screening and testing (for example measuring vitamin D levels), identifying nutritional deficiencies, as well as counselling and education to promote lifestyle modification including better nutrition and provision of dietary supplements. The study evaluated differences between 4,121 participants in the Pure North S'Energy Foundation's preventive and integrative health program and 20,605 matched controls.  In the first year, study participants had 22 percent fewer hospital visits, 21 percent fewer emergency department visits and 31.4 percent

Today Naomi and I had a chance to bike around parts of Winnipeg to enjoy Canada Day.  Artist Emily Lemay Artist Candace Lipischak

When there is so much concerning news coming from around the world, it is important to highlight one of the good news stories.   The recent outbreak of Ebola in the Congo is coming to an end thanks to a vaccine developed in Canada, in Winnipeg.  More than 3,000 people who have been exposed to those who developed Ebola have been vaccinated and none who have been vaccinated have come down with Ebola.  The use of a treatment using three monoclonal antibodies, also developed in Canada, in Winnipeg, has also helped reduce deaths from Ebola.  Canadians who have traveled to the Congo to help with the treatment and the vaccination have also made a contribution.  We can be proud, as Canadians, of what we are contributing globally.  As I described recently in the Manitoba Legislature, Canadians are leading the way in the fight against Ebola, and also in the fight to reduce HIV and AIDS around the world. Click on this link.  For more on the current outbreak, cick on  this link