Manitoba Liberals have a very different vision of the role of government than the NDP. Government should be the servant of the people instead of people being servants to our government.

Yesterday Naomi and I visited with friends in Shoal Lake.  At one stop we talked with a farmer, Kevin Choy.   His situation, similar to many farmers this year, is that he was only able to get about half his crop planted.    The photo above tells the story of one of the farmers in the area (in this case though not Kevin Choy, though Kevin's fields are not far away).

In the last several weeks, as Kevin watched the news and talked to other farmers in the area, he realized that in terms of government help, unless he was in the Interlake or in the area around the Hoop and Hollow Cut south of Portage la Prairie, he was basically out of luck.  Then recently, there was an announcement of support for farmers which appeared to also help farmers in places like Shoal Lake. 

He called up his local agricultual office to ask for information.  The reply was quick "Sorry, I can't help you, I am too busy."

Kevin then asked, "Well, will you get back to me when you find the answer?" 

The reply "No, that's your job to find the answer."

Some help, Some government. 

You see, as Manitoba Liberals we have a very different vision of the role of government.  Manitoba Liberals see government as the servant to the people.   In contrast, as you can see in Manitoba today, the NDP see people as servants to the government. 

Part of the problem today is that people have become very cynical of government.  And with attitudes like those found in NDP Manitoba today, it is not hard to understand why.   In my view, we need to change this.  I have been reading a book "Making Government Great Again."  This book emphasizes, above all else, the need for organizations to understand the needs of the people they serve, and to provide the service they need.   Governments, of course, can't be all things to all people.  But governments need to understand and decide what their role is, and to do that role well.  When government decides to help farmers, the help should be there - not "Sorry, I can't help you, I'm too busy."

Manitoba Liberals have a very different vision for health care in Manitoba than the NDP - Minnedosa is an example

Today, I was in Minnedosa.   I had quite a talk with a physician from British Columbia who is doing a locum here in Minnedosa.  She did not pull any punches.  Working in the clinic in Minnedosa is like walking backwards 15 years compared to various places she has worked in British Columbia.  Coming here, she said, she has a big learning curve - backwards.

You see, in the clinic in Minnedosa, they use paper records. In British Columbia in similar clinics where she has worked they use electronic records. Why is this so important.  Access to the electronic record in B.C. also means electronic access to much more than the medical record itself, and it means a higher quality of health care.
First the medical record itself:
- having electronic records means that you can actually read the past medical record easily.  As she explained far too much of the written paper records are written in very hard to read handwriting.  This means that with paper records you often have a big loss of potentially useful and important information, and a lower quality of care.
- having electronic medical records means quick access to a person's medications.  This is really important medical information which often is not easily accessible in Minnedosa.  It also means that it is easy to check that someone is not getting extra amounts of a drug like oxycontin because they are going to more than one doctor.
- having an electronic medical record makes it much easier to get access to a patient's medical record when a doctor is on call at night, and it is much easier to look up laboratory and pathology and x-ray results, as well as being much easier to order tests.
There are other benefits as well as better quality of and better access to the medical records.
- as well as improved medical record access, it means quick access to consultants used by the clinic
- it also means improved electronic access to patient care guidelines, to electronic information on diagnostic and treatment protocols and best practices and improved use of standard electronically available protocols for treating patients.
All this means a higher quality of care and fewer medical errors with electronic medical records.  Although there is an initial cost to having electronic medical records, once they are installed, the cost is cheaper, the savings in time is significant and the overall quality of care is higher.  The higher quality of care reduces costly medical errors and problems.

The fact that electronic medical records are not used in all clinics in Manitoba is the result of poor vision and poor leadership during the last twelve years of NDP government and several years before that under the Conservatives.

Manitoba Liberals have a very different vision from the current government in Manitoba.  We believe it is essential to have electronic medical records throughout Manitoba.  We have called for this for many years. Having the highest quality of health care is very important to us.  For all the reasons given above, this means using electronic medical records.

In broader terms, this story exposes the NDP vision of health care as out of date, low quality and high cost.   In contrast our Liberal vision for health care is up to date, high quality and much better managed cost.   We believe, as I have stated before in saving lives and saving dollars.

NDP policies create problems for renters in Winnipeg

NDP policies have abandoned renters and created a very tight rental market in Manitoba. As Gordon Sinclair has reported the myth that there is rent control under the NDP is just that - a myth.  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/myth-and-hard-truth-about-rent-control-124996614.html

I welcome comments - email me at jon.gerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca

Gary Bortolotti - a tribute

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything' (Albert Einstein).  This was Gary Bortolotti. Sadly, on the evening of July 3rd, after a month long struggle with acute myelogenous leukemia, Gary Bortolotti passed away.

I remember 1976 when Gary Bortolotti first came to spend a summer working on the Bald Eagle project at Besnard Lake.  He had called to express an interest in working with eagles and we found the financial support for him and Kandyd Szuba to spend the summer on Besnard Lake.  He was an enthusiastic, energetic, wild-eyed environmentally conscious youngster from Toronto who had come to a remote part of northern Saskatchewan to spend the summer watching birds and having a great time.  And have a great time he did.  Together with Kandyd Szuba and Joe and Sharon Daly he conducted the first summer long series of Bald Eagle lake surveys.   Up to that point we had focused primarily on checking the nests and assessing their status.  The lake surveys meant going slowly around half the 8 kilometer segments of Besnard Lake's 400 km shoreline and counting all eagles to get a picture of the whole eagle population including the various immature age groups. It was a magical summer, and Gary, at that time I think a student in Forestry, became hooked on raptors. 

Later on Gary would write of his first visit to Besnard Lake. "Although it is almost disconcertingly monotonous to many people, I somehow found comfort in the simplicity of the boreal forest.  ... Today, at long last, I would see my first Bald Eagle.  My emotions were strong and strangely polarized.  On the one hand I saw myself as an intruder, an unwelcome tourist in a foreign land.  This wild and beautiful country was so different from the Metropolis of Toronto where I grew up that it might as well have been on the other side of the glove.  On the other hand I had never felt such a sense of satisfaction, or perhaps relief, the way one feels when finally starting on the journey home after an extended absence."

Gary came back to conduct fieldwork for his Ph.D. thesis on Bald Eagles on Besnard Lake from 1979 to 1982.  His thesis work centred on understanding the differential growth rates of Bald Eagles.  In the years of his study, most (63%) of first hatched eggs were female, and most (69%) of second hatched eggs were male.  Male first, female second broods were rare.  Gary suggested that Bald Eagles may avoid male first, female second broods, where sibling conflicts are potentially higher, by having a sex-dependent hatching sequence.  More recent work suggests that the high proportion of female first hatched eggs may reflect the fact that in the years of the study food supply was exceptionally good, and that higher proportions of first hatched eggs being male may occur when food supply is less robust.  Nevertheless, Gary was a pioneer and he paved the way to a new understanding that Bald Eagles may be more likely to have female young under some circumstances and male young under other circumstances. 

In the thirty years since Gary carried out his thesis work, he went on to become a faculty member in the Department of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan (in 1987).  He has trained many students and has made numerous contributions to ornithology on several continents.  Reflecting the significance and quality of his research and teaching, he was appointed the Stuart and Mary Houston Professor of Ornithology and the Rawson Professor of Biology.

Gary, his wife Heather, and his children Lauren and Eric have been good friends and we have shared many happy times on Besnard Lake and in Saskatoon.   Together we have shared a passion for our environment and for environmental issues. Together Gary and I wrote quite a number of articles and two books The Bald Eagle: Haunts and Habits of a Wilderness Monarch, published by the Smithsonian Press, and then later with Karen Wiebe, we put together a book on the Birds of the Besnard Lake Area, North-Central Saskatchewan 1968-1994.   Gary was a really good person to collaborate with, and indeed to spend time with.  Gary continued his focus on birds and on the environment even as I veered into politics where I have continued to contribute to improved approaches to environmental issues from a different perspective.

Naomi and I, and our children, will miss Gary's friendly warmth and his great enthusiasms and passions. It is hard to believe he is gone.  We will treasure his memory and savour the time we were able to spend with him.    The photo above shows Gary with his wife Heather and their daughter Lauren.

[July 7, 2011: Today at the memorial service there were many tributes to Gary, his insatiable curiousity, his passion for nature and for science, his profound need to understand things, and of course his passion for music.  One graduate student, Graham Fairhurst, said he was "the hardest working scientist I've ever met." and then went on to tell a story of how he, driving with Gary in Kenya, managed to get their vehicle stuck on the very edge of a precipitous drop.  Graham was to drive the vehicle out, but both knew that if things did not go precisely as planned, it could fall down over the cliff.  Just before Graham started the car, Gary jumped in the passenger seat beside him saying: "If you are going down, I am going with you."  Fortunately, they survived, but Graham never forget Gary's selfless courage in joining him in the vehicle, knowing that the result could have been very different. That was Gary.] 

Should there be a crosswalk with a flashing light or a traffic light at the corner of Elm and Corydon

When I was at the graduation ceremonies at Ecole River Heights School last week, a significant safety concern was raised with me.  I was told that over the last eight years, five children have been struck by cars at the intersection of Elm and Corydon.  Students attending Ecole River Heights School coming on the bus from the west get off at this corner at the bus stop on the south side of the street.  The students then cross Corydon to get to school. 

The problem is that Corydon is a very busy street and the students have to cross this street at a particularly busy time of day.  I have talked to several people about this situation.  Some believe there should be a crosswalk with a flashing light at this intersection.  Others believe there should be a traffic light which will stay green for traffic going down Corydon unless the green light for Elm Street is triggered by a car or by a pedestrian pushing the button at the corner.   Since the city may not want a traffic light at a three way intersection,  it may be that the bus stop and traffic light would need to move a block east to the corner of Corydon and Montrose if this were the option chosen.

If you have a view on this issue you should call City Councillor John Orlikow at 986-5236 or email him at jorlikow@orlikow.ca.  Alternatively you can send me an email at jon.gerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca

Preventing Bullying, Harrassment and Violence in the Workplace - Liberals have been leaders on this issue

Those who read the Free Press today will have noted the "new bill" and "new regulations" to prevent and reduce violence in the workplace.  Those who have followed my blog will know that Liberals have been pushing for improved measures to reduce and prevent harassment, bullying and violence in the workplace for quite some time.  March 9, 2006, we introduced antibullying legislation (see my blog on March 9, 2006).  The principle is clear "Safe, secure workplaces are productive workplaces."  Ending workplace bullying and harassment improves the workplace environment and saves dollars.   The NDP did not support the legislation, claiming that existing legislation was sufficient.  But, we continued to hear of problems with harassment in the workplace that was not being adequately dealt with by the then legislation.

We reintroduced the legislation October 10th, 2007, and then with some improvements on December 9, 2009. (See my blog December 9, 2009). The goal was clear - to have more respectful workplace with much fewer problems with bullying, harassment and violence.  Again, the legislation was rejected by the NDP.  However, as one can see from today's Free Press, the NDP have realized that Manitoba Liberals were on the right track, have realized that the legislation which was in force in 2006, 2007 and 2009 was not sufficient and that continued improvement is badly needed.  Once again, it is Manitoba Liberals who have led the way to move to a better workplace environment and the NDP who are followers.

Education is a top priority for me: The Community Citizenship Awards; Education is also a top priority for the Manitoba Liberal Party - as our Youth Scholarship Awards show

Each year as the MLA in River Heights, I present Community Citizenship Awards to graduating students to recognize students who take a leadership role in his/her community, leading by example and showing high standards of integrity and respect for others.  The students also show an active awareness about social issues, in particular human rights issues, along with a willingness to act and to speak on those issues.

The students who are chosen for these awards have shown these qualities in a wide variety of ways.  Students are often particularly helpful to others at school and in the community, serving on school patrols for example.  This year there were students involved in organizations like Fair Trade Committees, in raising funds for local organizations like the Children's Hospital or Winnipeg Harvest or coordinating Christmas hampers, or volunteering at organizations like the Immigration Centre, Share Our Strength or in the Special Olympics or raising funds for international programs like flood relief in Pakistan or for the Care to Educ-aid program which worked throughout the year to build a school in Udaipur, Ragisthan.  Students who have won this award are described by words like dedicated, determined, informed, passionate, humble, caring, committed and a great role model and humanitarian.  I want to congratulate all of this year's Community Citizenship Award recipients who are listed below. 

Ecole La Verendrye School - Maya de Waal
Ecole J.B. Mitchell School  - Marla Warkentin
Ecole Robert H. Smith School - Molly Louise Ingenmay and Mairin Douglas
Queenston School - Anna Stacey
Carpathia School - Ronnie Brooks Hernandez
Grosvenor School - Thomas Ware
St. John Brebeuf School - Riva Billows
Ecole River Heights School - Jessica Katz and Saghar Shadabi
Kelvin High School - Maxine Schon
St. Mary's Academy - Tejal Kristjanson
Grant Park High School - Romina Levy

Education is a top priority for the Manitoba Liberal Party - the Young Liberal Scholarship Winners for 2011:
The Manitoba Liberal Party awards Scholarships for Manitoba students aged 18 to 25 who are entering into, or who are currently enrolled in a Manitoba post-secondary education institution. These scholarships, worth from $100 to $500, go to accomplished students who have shown a capacity to volunteer in the community and have a clear vision for the future of Manitoba which is developed in an essay which answers the question "If I were elected Premier of Manitoba, I would..."

The volunteer activities of the winners demonstrate a remarkable commitment to helping make Manitoba, Canada and the world a better place. The positive vision for the future of Manitoba developed by these students demonstrates their ability to think and plan ahead and should give all of us, as Manitobans, reason to be confident in the future of our province and our people.

Congratulations to the 2011 Young Liberal Scholarship Awardees:
Sara Domok - Warren Collegiate Institute
Benjamin Bawdon - Stonewall Collegiate Institute
Zachary Fleisher - University of Winnipeg
Dylan Duval - Murdoch Mackay Collegiate Institute
Kristen Leigh Rudyk - Fisher Branch Collegiate
Breanne Lavallee-Heckert - College Pierre Elliott Trudeau

A special thank you is owed to the members of the Young Liberal Scholarship Committee, Nora Fien, Meryle Lewis and Naomi Gerrard.

"Type 2 Diabetes, a health crisis, an economic nightmare" congratulations to Doug Speirs on his efforts to bring concerns about diabetes forward

For many years, I have been bringing my concerns forward about the diabetes epidemic which is raging in Manitoba. I have felt like a broken record, speaking out again and again for the need to treat the type 2 diabetes situation in Manitoba as the epidemic that it is, to address it vigorously and to turn the tide of this awful epidemic - an epidemic which has been referred to as a "tsunami", a "storm" or a "hurricane. It is good to see Doug Speirs efforts in Saturday's Free Press. Our Liberal approach to diabetes, see below, is "Saving lives; Saving dollars"

Sadly, the NDP approach has been largely neglect and incompetence, one of losing lives and wasting dollars. The NDP should be thrown out of office for their incompetence on this file alone, let alone the many others areas where they have done poorly. Let me start with some history.

1996: Diabetes declared an epidemic in Manitoba: "In June of 1996, Manitoba's Minister of Health declared diabetes to be both a major public health issue and an epidemic among Aboriginal people and the elderly of all populations." This quote is from the 1998 document "Diabetes: A Manitoba Strategy." It is also referenced on Manitoba Health's web site. The 1996 declaration was based on the 1992 Diabetes Burden of Illness Study.

1998: Diabetes: A Manitoba Strategy was released: This document was, for its time, a well written and well researched document. The problem was that it was never properly implemented, either by the Conservatives or the NDP, and has not been updated. The result has been that instead of properly addressing the diabetes epidemic in Manitoba, instead of turning the tide of the rising epidemic and instead of achieving a decrease in the incidence of type II diabetes in Manitoba, we have seen a progressive worsening of the diabetes epidemic and its consequences.

2004-2005: Failure to Implement the Diabetes Strategy becomes very painfully apparent: From 1998, to 2004-2005 the number of people in Manitoba who developed type 2 diabetes continued to grow. In the government's Throne Speech November 22, 2004, the government, forgetting it had a diabetes strategy, indicated that the "government will launch a diabetes prevention strategy." In statements by Minister of Health Tim Sale, it became clear the government had never implemented the 1998 diabetes strategy, and had essentially forgotten about it. If there ever was a new diabetes prevention strategy, it must have gone undercover, or perhaps emerged five years later in the document "Diabetes in Manitoba: A Call to Action." Today, on the government's web site, the only diabetes strategy presented is the 1998 strategy. That the 1998 diabetes strategy has never been properly implemented became increasingly apparent during 2005 and since. On April 25th, 2005, I asked the Minister of Health for up to date numbers for the incidence of diabetes in Manitoba. The Minister could not answer the question. On May 2, after several days, the Minister was forced to admit "I do not have numbers more recent than 2004." Can you imagine this. We have a major, devastating and costly epidemic in Manitoba, and the information on which the government is working is more than two years old! One of the major goals of the 1998 strategy was to "Provide data to monitor and evaluate diabetes prevention". Another was to "provide current, comprehensive culturally- and community-appropriate information regarding all facets of diabetes prevention." Clearly the government was failing to deliver on these major goals. Sadly, the quick availability of up to date information on the number of new cases of diabetes in Manitoba is not much better now than in 2005.

The Situation Today:
As the headline in the Winnipeg Free Press indicated we should "Be Concerned, Be Very Concerned" about diabetes in Manitoba. As Doug Speirs writes - this is about "type 2 diabetes, the fastest growing chronic disease in Canada, a multibillion-dollar crisis that threatens to not only swamp our health system, but drain our economy." And, "diabetes is a killer on a grand scale. The most recent figures from Statistics Canada rank it as the sixth leading cause of death in the country, claiming 7,394 people in 2007." And, continuing. "the real story is much more alarming. It's not the diabetes that kills you; it's the complications. And there are a lot of them. It's the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputations, and a driving factor behind strokes and heart attacks."

And what has the provincial response been. As the epidemic has worsened, as the tragedies of individual lives and family stories have increased, the NDP government has been neglectful and incompetent. There should have been a major emphasis on addressing the diabetes epidemic in the 2009 and 2010 throne speeches and the 2010 and 2011 budgets. Indeed I called for this repeatedly. But, diabetes was not even mentioned once in these documents which set the government's priorities. Diabetes should be the number one issue, or at least in the top three issues, in public health in Manitoba. Yet, today, as I write this when one goes to the Manitoba Health Department web site and checks out Public Health A-Z, diabetes is not even mentioned. Where has this government been? Neglect and incompetence are mild words compared to what one might use.

Indeed, the real measure of effectiveness, or lack of effectiveness, in addressing the diabetes epidemic lies in the number of people with diabetes in Manitoba. In the last ten years, as Doug Speirs points out, "In Manitoba, the number of confirmed diabetics soared to 94,000 in 2010 from 53,000 in 2000." This is a 77% increase - hardly an effective strategy.

The Liberal Commitment: "Saving Lives and Saving Dollars"
Manitoba Liberals have been talking about the need to address the diabetes epidemic for years. Our 2005 report "Six Lost Years: Its Time for Action" emphasized the vital importance of addressing the diabetes epidemic in Manitoba. We pointed out that "if the Doer government had even stabilized the incidence of diabetes at 1999 levels, there would have been 5,000 fewer people with diabetes in Manitoba [by 2005]. The numbers of dollars involved [in health care costs] are staggering." In our report, we recommended comprehensive action be undertaken and referenced the fact that "interventions in adults who are predisposed to the development of type 2 diabetes have already shown it is possible to reduce the number of people who develop diabetes by 58%."

Manitoba Liberals commit to immediate action on the diabetes epidemic if elected. Effective action to reduce diabetes will save lives and improve the quality of people's lives, it will also save precious health care dollars. Treating people with diabetes who need dialysis, heart surgery, amputations is very costly. More details of our approach will be coming in the days ahead.