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.
Flin Flon MLA Gerard Jennissen is taking the Tories to task after the Tories' latest show of condescension towards northerners. Tory family services critic Mavis Tallieu turned her nose up at the Doer government's announcement Wednesday that it would boost assistance to low-income residents who face higher food costs in northern and remote communities. "What assurances do we have that this additional 20 per cent in income assistance will be put toward the purchase of healthy food?" Tallieu was quoted as asking in Thursday's Winnipeg Free Press. "People make choices and people don't always make healthy choices, just because they have more money." "Why does the Tory critic assume that poor people don't make intelligent choices in the first place?" Jennissen asked. "The patronizing attitude of Tories is beyond belief in this day and age and in this of all countries," said Jennissen. "It's just another sign of the disdain that the Tories have for notherners," Jennissen argued. "They fought our investments in northern transportation, they fought the establishment of the University College of the North. Their lack of concern was typified by the fact that during the last election not a single Tory politician set one foot north of the 53rd. They need to show a little more respect for northerners." Jennissen also noted that the government is exploring additional strategies to reduce the high cost of food in northern Manitoba, through major improvements to northern roads, including a tripling of the winter road budget, and increasing the northern portion of the transportation capital spending from five per cent under the Filmon government to 25 per cent. "Instead of picking on people living in poverty in the North, the Tories should be supporting our request that the federal government match our increase for northerners living on reserves," Jennissen concluded.
