The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Continued from pg. 7 The NDP candidate said contracts for Bipole III have already been signed, so it is too late to go back. He added the aboriginal community has not been consistent in its position on where the line should go. Heine advocated what he called "a much better solution" to the NDP and PC approaches. He said the line should go between those routes, underwater and down the middle of Lake Winnipeg with no environmental impact. The Liberal candidate further suggested a manufacturing facility be established in Manitoba to produce the cable required for transmission lines. In terms of reducing Manitoba's deficit, Heine said this must be done prudently and accused the NDP of trying to buy votes. Linklater said deficit reduction cannot happen overnight and trumpeted his party's "realistic plan" to balance the budget by 2018. Pettersen said NDP leader Selinger has balanced 10 budgets and emphasized balance must be achieved while taking people into account. Discussion turned to poverty reduction, with Linklater stressing the need for education and promoting his party's $100 monthly allowance for parents of children aged six to 12. Boosted wage Pettersen pointed out the NDP has boosted the minimum wage annually and said education, job training and daycare programs can also help fight poverty and get everyone working. "Education is key," said Heine. He also repeated his party's call for screenings to determine if people suffer from disorders, and said social assistance should be raised for those who need it. Another question related to recreation funding, with Pettersen calling rec facilities "very important" and speaking favourably of before- and after-school programming. But the money has to come from somewhere, Pettersen said, adding in the case of the community of Flin Flon, an approach with regional partners should be pursued. Then there was Heine, who called rec facilities "pretty critical." He said the community of Flin Flon has a "half decent" hockey rink and some "pretty beat-up looking curling rinks" that "certainly could use some updating." Liberals are "very committed" to establishing and maintaining rec facilities, Heine said, in part because they keep youth on the straight and narrow. Linklater agreed more recreational funding is needed, particularly for the benefit of young people. The PC candidate promised his party would inject extra cash into recreation and provide a tax credit to encourage involvement in recreational activities. Throughout the evening, Pettersen, considered the favourite to win, directed much of his criticisms not at Heine and the Liberals, but at the PCs. Pettersen said the last PC government promised not to sell MTS but did so anyway. And he more than once suggested Manitoba Hydro would be privatized unless the NDP wins the Oct. 4 election. But one man in the crowd was unimpressed, asking Pettersen what the NDP has done for Flin Flon after more than four decades of representing the city. Pettersen said there has been a transformation of the community, mentioning the Barrow Provincial Building, a repaved Main St. and Highway 10A, expanded schools and continual upgrades to the hospital, among other provincially funded projects. Organized by the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce, Monday's forum ran two hours, with candidates seated at a table at the front of the room. Dave Kendall, a chamber director, served as moderator. The only MLA candidate unable to attend was Saara Harvie of the Green Party.
