Reassurances offered to Brandon, Westman

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This article was published 16/10/2023 (721 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Manitoba’s next premier won’t be sworn in until Wednesday, but that hasn’t stopped him meeting with some of his most important partners at the municipal level before then.

Last Tuesday, premier-designate Wab Kinew had meetings with both Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham as his New Democrats prepare to take the reins of power for the first time in seven-and-a-half years.

While much of Manitoba’s southern rural constituencies were retained by the Progressive Conservatives, the NDP made major inroads into Winnipeg and flipped Brandon East back to their side after two terms.

Speaking to the Brandon Sun on Friday, Kinew said his party received a mandate from Manitobans to improve health care and he started his meeting with Fawcett by going over some of his plans on that front for both Brandon and Westman.

“We’ve committed to making sure that there’s better access to primary care and a family doctor, making sure that we invest in the hospital and also bring medical training to the region,” Kinew said.

During the campaign, the NDP promised to open five minor-illness and injury clinics offering same-day appointments, including one in Brandon, and to spend $6 million to create additional health-care seats at Manitoba post-secondary institutions.

When the three Brandon-area Progressive Conservative candidates opened their joint campaign office in early September, since-defeated Brandon East MLA Len Isleifson said he would “guarantee” that ongoing renovations and expansions to the Brandon Regional Health Centre would be cancelled if the NDP formed government.

Kinew said that isn’t going to happen.

“I think we’ve all seen that the PCs were pretty desperate in the final weeks,” Kinew said. “We were elected to fix health care and invest in it, not to cut health care.”

Other topics Kinew and Fawcett discussed included homelessness, a topic on which Kinew said the two of them “are very much aligned,” as well as promoting economic development.

“We want to get people into more dignified living situations, instead of being out on the street, make sure that they have the wraparound services to succeed,” Kinew said.

Meeting with the mayors of Manitoba’s biggest cities on the same day, Kinew said, was done to let Brandon know that it is at the top of his new government’s agenda and to establish a strong line of communication.

Another promise the NDP made during the campaign was to commit to spending up to $1 million for the renewal of the Park Community Centre.

That’s still in the works, Kinew said, and work will begin once he and his government have been sworn in.

On Sept. 25, the day before the Brandon Chamber of Commerce hosted the Wheat City’s only leaders debate for the elections, PC Leader Heather Stefanson said her party would put $5 million towards renovations at Brandon’s Community Sportsplex, which had the plant for its ice rink be shut down due to safety concerns earlier this year.

While Kinew made no firm commitments for his government to do something similar, he did say “that’s definitely aligned with our values.”

“We’ll just have to dig into the details,” Kinew said.

Fawcett said he was very happy to have the opportunity to speak to the next premier as quickly as possible and was pleased that Kinew was up to date on issues concerning Brandon and the surrounding region.

He said that he and Gillingham advocated for four major priorities the Association of Manitoba Municipalities outlined ahead of the election: fair and predictable funding, infrastructure investments, investing in social services and public safety.

Fawcett said some time was spent talking about Gillingham’s plan to address chronic homelessness and addiction in Winnipeg. Brandon, Winnipeg, and the province will work together on those issues, Fawcett said — an approach that had the approval of the premier-designate.

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The mayor also said he expressed support for whatever measures Kinew’s government takes to crack down on drug trafficking and requested that they appoint a regional cabinet officer to be a direct line between Brandon and the new government’s ministers.

Brandon’s constituencies are now split between government and opposition, with Glen Simard winning Brandon East for the NDP and Grant Jackson and Wayne Balcaen retaining Spruce Woods and Brandon West respectively for the Tories.

However, Fawcett said the four men had a joint meeting last week to set Brandon’s priorities for the upcoming term and see how they can work together.

“Between Glen, Wayne and Grant, we have three very good adults that are mature and very good community people,” Fawcett said. “And I think we are going to be very well served by all three of them.”

— Brandon Sun