Dear Editor,
After seeing the Manitoba throne speech, I think we are in for a world of hurt here in the North.
They may have mentioned us, but only in terms of tourism and mining. We all know our tourism is a booming business, but the mining industry is not as lucrative and luring as it seems. There isn’t a lot of hiring potential in mining, and if the incumbent government is going to start stepping in and interfering in bargaining, as it did at the University of Manitoba, it will only get worse.
If the North loses its Churchill port, we are lettering down the community of Churchill and the whole province as well as our neighbours in Saskatchewan. Already train service to our most northern residents has been reduced, and that is their only means of obtaining supplies. How are they supposed to survive?
Tourism can only take us so far and will not be able to create the jobs needed to sustain the North.
The housing market here is out of control with people wanting exorbitant amounts for homes, and with small-town infrastructure needing updating, taxes are rising and wages aren’t.
The present government has shown they will continue to let the middle class disappear, and our northern towns will start to shrink. We can’t keep young people here; they can’t afford to buy a new home or vehicle or even eat!
The transparency and accountability this PC government insists they are all about has been put to the test day after day during question period in the Legislature. And they have been lacking in these qualities. Questions are asked, and there is never an answer.
It seems that the Premier is too busy blaming the last government to actually answer questions put to him. He spends his time complaining about the last government then runs out of time to answer a straightforward question.
Then the Throne speech is out there, and it doesn’t even begin to address issues the PCs have been asked about.
This government has a clear case of “perimeteritis” and is not looking to the whole province. They keep saying that they have travelled extensively and talked with Manitobans and that Manitobans have told them what they want.
Anyone in town seen a PC minister? I think one was at the Friendship Centre, but how many people knew about it? What were the issues? What was he told? How many attended?
I’m worried for our province, our jobs and our North!
Mitch Winterton
Flin Flon
