The Gerrard Report

The Pallister government recently brought in a Shared Health plan which includes a clinical services plan, but forgot to include the critically needed health preventative services plan.    Like the NDP the Pallister government is putting prevention on the back burner.  I asked about this on Thursday June 21 in the Legislature.   My comments and the Minister's comments are below.  As you will see the Minister sadly, has the same approach the NDP had and that is that preventive services are just a tiny part of clinical services.   This is wrong.  A province-wide preventative services plan is essential.  Mr. Gerrard:   I raised the issue yesterday, and I would like to  follow this up that he  [the Minister] has got in his transformation documents some significant material whi ch deals with what the role of Shared Health is and what it will do. And it's, you know, well written and well put together. And it provides f...

The Pallister government has announced its plans for Shared Health and part of its role will be managing the Health Sciences Centre.  This means that most Winnipeg hospitals will be managed by the WRHA and one, the Health Sciences Centre, will be managed by Shared Health.  Having two organizations managing hospitals in Winnipeg is adding extra bureaucracy and duplication.    I asked the Minister of Health why he is doing this?  My question and the Minister's response from June 21 are below:  Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  My question to the Minister of Health: He has recently brought in the transformation report last week. One of the significant questions is why the minister has chosen to include the Health Sciences Centre in with Shared Health. The result of doing this is that he will have, under his ministry, two organizations managing hospitals in Winnipeg.       This hardly seems efficient to have two o...

I have been quite concerned in the last year that the federal government has come forward with major funding for the Cross Lake Hospital, but the province has not so far really come to the table and this important project is currently stalled waiting for the participation of the province.   The delay is unfortunate because the people of Cross Lake have been working on getting this hospital for at least two decades.   I have been very puzzled as to why the province is being so slow to come to the table, so I asked the Minister of Health why he was delaying to long on this decision.  I also asked about the planning for the Hospital in the Island Lakes area.   My questions and the Minister's responses on Thursday June 21 are below.  Mr. Gerrard:   One of the important issues in Manitoba has been the partnership between the First Nations people, Metis people, the provincial government, Inuit people and the federal government. And there has b...

The Phase II report from KPMG on the Health System Sustainability and Innovation Review makes a recommendation that the government decrease the level of provincial support for children's hearing aids, for bone-implant processors and FM transmitters.    These are devices which are very important for enabling children with hearing difficulties to hear.   We have recently (2016) finally achieved universal newborn hearing screening after many years of advocating for this.   It is essential that children who are identified at birth as hearing deficient have the support for enable them to hear as good as they can hear with the support of hearing aids and Cochlear implants.  When children have a hearing deficiency, they have difficulty hearing and this translates into difficulties learning and often to behavioural and other problems down the road.  We need to ensure that these children are enabled to do well.   The provincial government should...

On Wednesday June 20, I spoke on Bill 29 to talk about the fact that the government has too often not adequately discussed the impacts of measures it takes with the people who are being affected.  My comments in the Legislative assembly are below.  Hon. Jon  Gerrard  (River Heights):  Just a few comments on this. I note that in his motion, which we are debating, that the Government House Leader (Mr. Cullen) has suggested that–correctly–that one of the things that was deemed important was having additional consultations and discussions over the summer. The way to do that is to not pass it through to committee, but rather to make sure that those discussions are undertaken and that peoples' views are adequately considered. It is, sadly, something of a pattern that this government has got into, to introduce measures without being able to look at and consult with people who are knowledgeable in the area.       I would give you an examp...

On Thursday June 21, I had the opportunity to  . Gerrard:   My next question relates to something which I know is a big concern of the minister's, and that is the meth epidemic for the large number of people in Manitoba, an increasing number of people, often young people, in Manitoba, who are caught up taking and addicted to meth. We've had a lot of discussions and questions over the course of the last couple of years for the minister on this subject, but the approach to the epidemic needs to go beyond just an educational approach and hoping that will reduce it.       I've spoken on a number of occasions about the activities that have happened, as an example, at Morberg House in St. Boniface, and I would hope that the minister would have an opportunity to visit and see the results. The minister's interested in outcomes of what's happening at Morberg House, and a number of these results were discussed on CBC several weeks ago.   ...

Thursday June 21, Judy Klassen spoke to honour the high school graduates in Kewatinook.   Her comments are below.  Kewatinook 2018 Graduates Ms. Judy  Klassen  (Kewatinook):  I would like to take this time to congratulate my Kewatinook 2018 graduates–indeed, to every graduate across our province.       Indigenous graduation rates are at a deplorable 49.3 per cent rate, and yet my young adults, teachers, administrators in Kewatinook are doing everything possible to raise that number.       All these diplomas are hard-earned. Most kids have to leave their First Nation to attain their diploma because there simply is no high school in their community. I know how much it hurts to be forced to leave for school; I had to do it, facing insurmountable loneliness, unfamiliar landscapes, concrete jungles and a different culture that you have to adapt to and the unjust racism that exists in that supposed civili...

On June 6th our Manitoba Legislature was recalled for an emergency session.   A primary reason for the emergency session was that the Pallister government had done a poor job of managing the budgetary process, had not completed the budgetary process and indeed had not even introduced one of the important budgetary bills - the BITSA bill.  The BITSA bill (short hand for Budget Implementation and Tax Statutes Amendment Act) is an essential part of the budgetary process and would normally be introduced and often debated and passed by this time.   However, the Pallister Conservatives did not manage the budgetary process well with the result we had to have the emergency session.   In order for the government to have money to continue to operate as a result of the budget not being fully passed, a major reason for the emergency session was to pass an interim supply bill which would give the government the ability to keep on spending during the period until t...

Tuesday June 19, I spoke on a debate on a matter of urgent public importance namely " the urgent issue of the cruel and inhumane policy of the US administration to separate migrant children from their parents when entering the United States to claim asylum and the importance of condemning this inhumane practice on the part of the US administration."   I responded to this issue to emphasize the understanding that we have in Manitoba of the appalling impact of taking children from their families - as has happened with the taking of so many children by the government's child and family services.   My comments in the Legislature are below:  Mr. Gerrard:  Madam Speaker, as we talk today, there are on the US-Mexico border, children who are  being separated from their families. I believe that the urgency of this issue and the importance of this issue speaks to that particular concern, and we, in Manitoba, know probably better than almost anywhere els...

Thursday June 21, Judy Klassen spoke about the National Indigenous People's Day Ms. Klassen:  I'm very happy to rise today to speak to National Indigenous Peoples Day.       This morning Cindy Blackstock called on all Canadian politicians to take mandatory training on indigenous peoples, residential schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and contemporary injustices that face our First Nation people.       I am proud to stand beside her in this call and I'd like to add that everyone should also learn about our treaties.       I would ask that all members of this House to use this day to take a good look at what is happening to indigenous people in our province, reflect on their own privilege and to be thankful for it and imagine what it would be like not to have it, and perhaps that'll be the catalyst that is needed in this province for real change.       We shoul...