Andrew Smith

Plans for new Sage Creek school unveiled

After years of advocating for a new Louis Riel School Division K-8 school in Sage Creek, I can proudly say that it is definitely becoming a reality. I was pleased to announce this, with members of our community, at the future site of the school, which will be constructed adjacent to the roundabout where Warde Avenue meets Des Hivernants Boulevard.

Meet Mighty Makenna Stratton

Every year, 48 children are diagnosed with cancer in Manitoba. One of those children lives right here in our community. Makenna Stratton has always been a loving, caring, and energetic child with many friends. In September 2021, she was so happy to be starting Grade 7 at Christ the King School with her peers. After nearly a month in class, however, she caught a flu virus, which, owing to COVID-19 restrictions, kept her home for two weeks.

Manitoba wholeheartedly supports Ukraine

We find ourselves in unprecedented times as we face the first major war of the 21st century, which for many of us is on a scale that we have never seen before in our lifetimes, nor did we ever expect to see.

The current human toll in Ukraine, as a result of this unprovoked Russian assault is abominable. Over three million people have fled the country thus far, with many more families being displaced, their communities destroyed, and thousands of innocent lives lost.

Manitoba is home to over 180,000 people of Ukrainian extraction, who make up almost 15 per cent of the province’s population, many of whom live right here in our community. As one of those Manitobans with Ukrainian roots, I know how difficult it is for those with loved ones who may be at risk. I have cousins in eastern Ukraine, and pray that they are safe, as our family has not been able to communicate with them since the Russian invasion.

This is not the first time Ukraine has faced Russian aggression and attempts at “Russification.” Three hundred years ago, Catherine the Great of Russia sought to convert Ukraine into part of Russia and two centuries later, Stalin tried a more barbaric approach — purposely starving millions of Ukrainians to death in the 1930s, an attempt at genocide which would come to be known as Holodomor. I know of the latter far too well, as my grandmother, Mary, was a Holodomor survivor. No matter how horrific it was for her, she never lost her resolve. That tenacity is at the core of all Ukrainians, and the driving force of what keeps them fighting for their freedom, even when faced with such insurmountable odds.

The first Lagimodiere Christmas Spirit contest

The Christmas season is one of my favourite times of the year.  the years, I have seen many amazing Christmas displays, a number of which, I am proud to say, have been right here in our own neighbourhood.

This year, I have decided to showcase the best of our community’s Christmas decorating efforts by creating the first annual Lagimodiere Christmas Spirit Award contest.

During the month of December, the district’s best Christmas display home, and two runners-up, will be chosen and  honoured. A panel of judges has been assembled, representative of different sections of our community, who will assess every entry.

There will also be teams of volunteers scouting houses over the next few weeks, seeking local contestants. The grand prize will be a trophy, gift cards to local businesses, and a picture of their Christmas House featured on the front of my 2022 mailer, which will be issued to all households in the constituency during the first quarter of the coming year.

Many welcome changes in Lagimodiere

At daybreak on Sept. 1, as the sun rose above the horizon, I could see that it was going to be a beautiful, hot and clear Manitoba summer day.

Taking in the light morning breeze, I could feel the winds of change taking place as our province’s 23rd Premier, Kelvin Goertzen, was sworn in. I congratulate him on his new role, and wish him the very best for the next couple months, until our new, permanent leader is chosen at the end of this current leadership race.

The summer also saw many welcome changes in our neighbourhood as well. We were happy to welcome Jenna Rae Cakes to the Island Lakes Strip Mall, along with eye catching new signage on the clock tower, and the addition of a much needed backlit pylon sign, to advertise the local businesses in the mall. I was also excited about announcing the construction of the new SEIG Pathway, joining the existing pathway through Seigneurie Park to the intersection lights at Lagimodiere Boulevard, which has since been completed.

Some changes have also taken place recently in Sage Creek. I am pleased with the addition of the new tennis and pickleball courts at Ron Duhamel Park, that were completed this summer. I would also like to thank Kathy and Jim Wyryha for their many years of service as the former owners of the local McDonald’s.

Seig pathway construction begins

On May 28 of last year, I was pleased to announce provincial funding for a multi-use path in Seignieurie Park, known predominantly in the community as the Seig pathway.

Over the past year, many of you have been asking about this project, eagerly awaiting its start. This summer, I am happy to say that the ground has officially been broken, and construction has commenced on this highly anticipated addition to the Island Lakes community.

Wed., July 28, was the day of our official ground-breaking ceremony, and I was joined by representatives from the Island Lakes Residents’ Group (ILRG), and St. Boniface city councillor Matt Allard. Thank you to ILRG for spearheading this project, and the City of Winnipeg for its partnership.

The SEIG Pathway will be used by both pedestrians and cyclists alike, and will run through Seignieurie Park in Island Lakes to the controlled intersection at Lagimodière Boulevard and Sage Creek Boulevard. The pathway will consist of a permanently paved section between the Sage Creek intersection, running up the Lagimodière berm, and will link to a smaller existing pathway in Seigneurie Park.

Supporting local businesses in our community

I shop locally whenever I can and in doing so I am happy with the variety of local businesses we have in our community.

It has been a difficult year for Manitobans, but we are prevailing, as the strong and supportive people we are and have always been.

The heart of our community is our local businesses, the places we conveniently frequent for many of our daily shopping needs, which also employ a number of people who live here. Because of such strong community support and growth, I am pleased to see that more businesses are coming to our neighbourhood, including Jenna Rae Cakes in Island Lakes, and Tommy Gun’s Original Barber Shop in Sage Creek.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support our local businesses. The outpouring of support has tremendously helped.

New K-8 school coming to Sage Creek

I am pleased to announce plans by our government to acquire land for a new kindergarten to Grade 8 school in Sage Creek.

I have strongly advocated for this over the past few years, and am happy that all the time and effort spent has as made the difference. I have always been committed to making sure that we were meeting the needs of our growing communities, and now we are doing more, by investing in new school construction to support staff and students. This new K-8 facility will provide access to enhanced learning opportunities for students and educators in the very best classroom space.

The Manitoba government is investing over $210 million in crucial K-12 school capital projects, including $24 million for seven land acquisition projects for future school sites. This announcement builds upon the government’s commitment to building 20 new schools over 10 years, with six already open and in use, and the remainder expected to be completed ahead of schedule.

As well, we have also announced increased funding to public school divisions for the 2021-22 school year of $20.8 million, totalling a record-setting investment of $1.35 billion.

Remember those less fortunate this winter

As we leave 2020 behind us, 2021 is off to a promising start when it comes to members of our community who diligently give of themselves to help the most vulnerable in society.

Last year, I was honoured to volunteer alongside members of the Ramgarhia Association in their effort to feed frontline workers and those in need.

This year, volunteers from that organization, consisting of Lagimodiere residents Nimmi and Baldev Ramgotra and Pam and Satinder Ghattora, established Nanak Support, an initiative whereby evenings are planned to go out and personally feed Winnipeg’s homeless population, located in the downtown core area.

I joined them on Sat., Jan. 9. We traveled in a convoy of a few vehicles, and stopped at every bus shelter we could find that was acting as temporary living quarters for the homeless. We delivered several dozen pizzas, dozens of juice boxes, and bottles of water. The people were very happy to see us, and gladly accepted the warm meals.

Our community’s generosity is impressive

Although this is a Christmas and New Year’s season like no other, I am encouraged by the tremendous generosity of our community.

Over the month of December, I organized a food and clothing drive for Siloam Mission, and I was impressed by the enthusiastic participation of those who made donations, as our office received a constant flood of emails and phone calls from people asking us where they could drop off their items. Siloam Mission offers its heartfelt thank yous for the generous outpouring of donations from you.

Those in need across Winnipeg and the rest of the province have long required our support, especially during the Christmas season. This year has been particularly challenging, and I thank everyone for stepping up, and donating what they could, to such a great cause.

This is an excellent way for us to end such a challenging year. As we leave the year 2020 behind, and welcome 2021, we have much reason to be optimistic and hopeful. We have already begun to witness the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in our province, and I look forward to further rollout throughout the coming year.

A time to give in our community

As a very challenging year winds down to a close, the Christmas season is upon us. With the struggles we are currently facing as a society, most of us can turn to our families for love, comfort and solace.

There are many in our communities, however, who do not have that stability, and not only face loneliness and lack of support but also abject poverty. Thankfully, there are a number of compassionate goodwill organizations in our city, which exist solely to help those most desperately in need.

Siloam Mission is one of these, and its mission, as a Christian humanitarian organization, is to assist those affected by poverty and homelessness and help them through their most difficult times  by giving them opportunities that they could never have found on their own.  Those with nowhere else to turn find themselves in a place that gives them hope, starting with a warm meal, clothing and shelter if desired.

 Siloam Mission and similar organizations rely on donations in order to exist. Monetary donations are crucial, helping them in maintain their daily operations and affording them the ability to expand their services to more people in need.

Recognizing teaching excellence

In our neighbourhood, we have a number of individuals who contribute so much to their community.

One such resident is Dr. Anju Bajaj, a renowned teacher at Holy Cross School who goes the extra mile for her students. She is also a founder, co-ordinator, and organizer of the nationally accredited Bison Regional Science Fair for independent, Catholic, and home schools, which is not only extensive, but showcases some of the brightest young minds in the province.

Winners of the fair compete at the national and international levels, with all of their expenses allocated by Dr. Bajaj from various means of fundraising and science activities throughout the year. Anju is the kind of educator who nurtures young minds to excel, and in doing so, allows student talents to flourish, paving the way for bright futures ahead in Manitoba.

In honour of her diligence and professionalism in education, she was the 2019-2020 recipient of the teaching excellence sward at Manitoba’s Excellence in Education Awards.

What Phase 2 means for our community

On June 1, we began Phase 2 of the Manitoba government’s Restoring Safe Services plan. I applaud Manitobans in diligently flattening the curve, which has now enabled the restoration of a much wider variety of services, as well as a greater degree of overall operations.

This restoration of services includes: increasing child-care centre occupancy to up to 24 children plus staffing;  increasing day camp group sizes to 24; resuming sports, arts and cultural activities for children and adults; lifting occupancy limits at outdoor recreation facilities and golf courses outdoors, as long as physical distancing can be maintained and allowing limited access to indoor spaces; allowing direct travel to northern parks, campgrounds, cabins, lodges and resorts while ensuring physical distancing; allowing public/private swimming pools, spas, fitness clubs, gyms and community/service centres to reopen with some limitations; allowing religious or other organizations to hold outdoor services or events without limitation on numbers if people stay in their vehicles; reopening manicurists and pedicurists, tattoo parlours, estheticians, cosmetologists, electrologists and tanning parlours at 50 per cent capacity; and allowing restaurants, bars, micro-breweries and distilleries to reopen indoor spaces at 50 per cent capacity and to offer patio services at that capacity level.

As a result of Phase 1, I had the privilege to visit re-opened local businesses, in our community, which included Block & Blade, Freshii, Chicken Chef, Mary Brown’s, Snips N’ Shears, and Von Riesen Hair Co.

Patrons, staff, and owners alike were very pleased to be back at work, while at the same time following current health orders to the letter. Phase 2 further lifted restrictions, which allowed me to visit the recently reopened Southdale Community Centre, where youth hockey camp was in full swing, while all involved were strictly adhering to current health protocols.