Election day is now less than one week away in our province. Manitobans head to the polls on October 3rd. 

In the Steinbach constituency, there are four candidates vying to become the next MLA. They are Gabrielle Simard-Nadeau (Green Party), Gord Meneer (NDP), Cyndy Friesen (Liberal) and incumbent Kelvin Goertzen (Progressive Conservative).

We asked each of the four candidates a list of six questions related to growth, immigration, affordability, crime, education and health care. Part 1 of this two-part story touched on growth, immigration and affordability. Part two will focus on crime, education and health care. 


With regards to crime, what issues do you see in the constituency and how might you help address those?


Gabrielle Simard-Nadeau (Green Party)
The big thing that we see in relation to crime is addiction and mental health issues. I don't think that a lot of people really choose to live within that. And so, we believe the basic income guarantee would really help some of the community overcome these issues. And also having a lot more support for addiction and mental health, making sure that there aren't any barriers for people to be getting access to these. And a big thing for the Green Party is prevention and this would mean something along the lines of support for families to help identify issues at a younger age. If families have these supports for kids, I think kids growing up feel that their basic needs are being met and there is not as much stress in the family, especially with low-income or poverty families it's really hard to have those basic needs met. And when you have those basic needs met it's easier for you to feel safe and a basic good of a person comes out and you feel appreciated and valued in the community.

Gord Meneer (NDP)
Crime rates have increased since Heather Stefanson became Premier, and the people feel less safe than they did before she was Premier. She slashed budgets for crime prevention programs and community corrections. This in particular has contributed to the increase of crime here in Steinbach. In general, crime and homelessness are tied directly to the rise in poverty, and we need a government that leads with compassion. We need more affordable housing of course but we also need health care support that can help those living in poverty tackle mental health and addictions. The NDP's plan to hire more mental health workers will allow police to spend time doing what they are trained to do, prevent crime.

Cyndy Friesen (Liberal)
The first issue to address is the long delays in court cases. A recent Auditor General's report released in July 2023 shows that there are long delays in court cases, driven in large part by a lack of funding and staff shortages. These delays mean that those who break the law are not facing consequences for their actions in a timely manner, which is the opposite of what this government is advertising. These delays also contribute to overcrowding in the provincial jails, when the majority of inmates are awaiting the outcomes of their court cases. If the PCs were serious about being tough on crime, they would have negotiated with prosecutors more than a year ago and concluded a new contract before it expired in March of 2022. It would have recruited and retained crown attorneys by providing them with competitive and ensured staff levels that kept pace with the surge in workload. It failed to negotiate a contract and only three months before an election the PC's committed more funding to crown attorneys. Crowns have been saddled with unmanageable workloads and many senior crowns have retired or resigned. The root cause of crimes is well documented and researched. There is a strong correlation between crime rates and poverty, addictions, mental health and homelessness. Steinbach has many non-profit organizations that offer support and services, some of which I volunteer with, and I've seen firsthand how they are helping community members, but more needs to be done, but it will also take political will. Steinbach needs wrap-around services to help those dealing with mental health and addictions. More than once local parents have gone public, sharing the heartbreaking stories of their loss of a loved one due to addictions, mental health and the lack of help in resources in our communities. There are currently seven RAAM clinics, that is Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine. There are seven of these clinics in Manitoba and yet Steinbach being the third largest city in Manitoba doesn't have one. Smaller communities like Portage la Prairie, Selkirk and Thompson have these clinics and I would definitely advocate for one in Steinbach. The province also recently announced funding for additional treatment spots for rural Manitoba, and yet Steinbach was not on this list, but Ste. Rose, Brandon, Thompson and Flin Flon were. So, on our platform, we include establishing non-police mental help and addiction crisis teams to work in tandem with law enforcement across the province with a focus on de-escalation and treatments. We would also fund safe places recreation centres and anti-gang intervention programs that offer support. 

Kelvin Goertzen (Progressive Conservative)
What I hear most about crime in Steinbach, Blumenort, Mitchell, there is a growing concern about personal safety, it still is largely circulating around things like property crime, and sometimes it's street racing. So, I think there are things we can do on property crime in terms of trying to support individuals within law enforcement to be able to target that more closely. One of the things we did in government is creating the CSO program (Community Safety Officer), which allows individuals other than mainline police officers, RCMP or Winnipeg Police Service to do law enforcement. So, we see that being utilized pretty significantly in some parts of rural Manitoba. Had some discussions with our local councils about the potential to have more CSOs (Community Safety Officers) who can do things like speed enforcement and different sorts of things that will allow other police officers to have a broader presence in the region, not have to worry about those sorts of things and we did as Minister of Justice, increase the funding to local police officers this year. So, there's more money coming to the municipalities and there are more options, being able to use things like Community Safety Officers as opposed to just RCMP.


How can you and your party help ensure students are getting the best possible education? Are increasing class sizes an issue to be addressed? Do you see a need for a second high school in Steinbach? 

Gabrielle Simard-Nadeau (Green Party)
The Green Party definitely believes in more training for teachers and teacher aids and also having a better teacher-to-student ratio. I think that keeping the class sizes smaller is always a good thing and we definitely would prioritize that. One thing that we believe would really help is having some assemblies and talking to the people who work in the schools or to the parents who are living that experience with young kids in school and seeing where the issues are, consulting with them to see if we need more infrastructure, more schools or if we can also reorganize the resources that we already have to become more efficient within the school system. (With regards to another high school) I think that Steinbach and the area is just going to continue growing and I think it's a good idea to plan for that. I do foresee that we will be needing another high school pretty soon.

Gord Meneer (NDP)
The Manitoba NDP is always committed to smaller class sizes. But we also believe that the provincial government has a role in playing in helping to create the best conditions for the kids to learn. We've announced that we will spend $30 million to require that all 690 public schools offer free meals to students before the end of 2023-24 school year. Right now, under the PC government, the province only pays for meals in 31 schools. In fact, since the PC took office, they cut the NDP cap size class sizes and their cuts in education have resulted in fewer EAs and librarians and resulted in fewer programs in music and sports. As far as a new school in Steinbach, we listen to our local school divisions and parents. We would never consider taking education decisions away from the people of Steinbach and giving it to Winnipeg bureaucrats.

Cyndy Friesen (Liberal)
As a former school trustee, I understand the importance of stable multi-year funding so that school divisions can plan accordingly and hire the staff to address the needs of students in order to deliver the best education possible. Increasing class sizes are concerning but equally important is to consider the composition of the classrooms. The complex and diverse needs of our students are also increasing, and some examples would be, more than ever before students struggling with their mental health, students whose first language is not English, students affected by war and students impacted by poverty and hunger. Similar to other sectors like health, education is also experiencing a shortage of qualified staff. So, staff recruitment and retention are also important in the education sector. (With regards to the composition of classrooms), these needs will require additional support like social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists. These students are our future, and we need to ensure that support is in place in order for them to develop their full potential and become successful members of society. As part of the Liberal platform we will work with the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba to establish a universal nutrition program for K-12 schools. We would also support providing universal coverage for all cognitive and learning challenges so that immediately upon entering the school system students can receive the proper support. (With regards to another high school), I was a member of the SRSS building committee and can confirm that there is a plan for an addition if needed. I know there's an extension in the plans, but I'm not sure which end of the school it is. But there is one in the plans. I'm also aware that school boards are required to submit a five-year capital plan to the province each year based on student growth. The province reviews these plans and makes the final decision on where the school should be built and during my time as a trustee, I remember we had discussions about possibly considering a high school within Hanover School Division, so while we were considering perhaps Mitchell for a high school, because the SRSS is a feeder school for Mitchell, Blumenort, New Bothwell and Kleefeld. There were discussions about perhaps putting a high school in Mitchell. As you know I'm not a trustee anymore so I'm not sure where that discussion has gone from there. But that was a plan at one point. 

Kelvin Goertzen (Progressive Conservative)
So, on the general question, there has been a record level of investment in education over the last few years, particularly over the last couple of years. Significant double-digit increases for many school divisions. Now that doesn't mean it's going to alleviate every challenge, but Manitoba currently funds its students on a per-pupil basis, I think it's the second highest in the country. So, there are significant resources going into the system and that will continue to be I think helpful. Not that every challenge will go away, particularly in areas that are growing. So, been good discussions I think between Hanover, I know they recently had a change in their chair but there was a discussion with the previous chair and the Minister of Education I think that those might bear some fruit in the future. In terms of the high school, a lot has changed since I went to the SRSS, when it was just a smaller portion and then of course it expanded significantly. But before that expansion there was a discussion at that point, I remember about potentially having two high schools; one that would be focused more on things like trades and that sort of education and academics in another high school. Now whether or not the school division wants to go on that direction or not, I don't know. But there certainly was discussion about a second high school and I think it's inevitable that there will be a second high school, whether it breaks down between the courses that are taught I don't know, but I suspect that will be coming in the future at some point.


What influence can you have in reducing wait times and helping people in the constituency to find a family doctor?

Gabrielle Simard-Nadeau (Green Party)
I and my family have been personally affected by this. My family doctor retired, and it's been really difficult to find someone locally. And we do for sure need to plan for more training and retention in the health care system, especially with doctors. Also training more nurse practitioners and having more midwives available to the community who want them. The Green Party is always about prevention, and I think lifting people out of poverty will reduce the impact on the need for health care. When we're eating enough food and we're not stressed all the time we feel better and then we can take care of ourselves. So, we can attack the issue on a couple of different sides of it to make a bigger impact. We also need to have better transparency regarding the wait times and how the system functions so that we as a government can see what's working and what isn't. And seeing how much time people are really waiting to see doctors or how much time they are waiting in the ERs because they have no other option. And so, we can really try and fix that.

Gord Meneer (NDP)
The Manitoba NDP is the only party that can defeat Heather Stefanson and enact our five-point plan to restore rural health care. Part of that plan is to create the largest recruitment campaign in Manitoba history. We have a proven track record of listening to front-line health care workers and experts and we would once again take their advice on how to attract more rural health professionals to rural Manitoba. 

Cyndy Friesen (Liberal)
I wouldn't use the word influence, but I would say that our plan is to attract and retain doctors. That would help in addressing these issues. We are proposing offering bonuses of $10,000 to nurses and health professionals, including doctors and nurse practitioners in the public system. A separate $10,000 bonus will be issued to nurses and health professionals who return to the public system. And bonuses will be prorated so that those who work casual, or part-time are included. We will also train physician assistants to expand services within the health care system as well as reduce the red tape involved in recruiting international doctors. I think it's important to note that Manitoba has the second lowest number of doctors per capita in Canada. And despite decades of warnings the PC and the NDP refuse to increase the numbers of doctors being trained in Manitoba. So, part of the solution is also to improve conditions of work for family physicians to practice here in Manitoba, especially when physicians have been leaving the province to practice elsewhere in areas that are more attractive. We will work to reform family physician pay and change the fee-for-service model to a flex-pay model so family doctors can take the extra time they need with their patients. We will also look to expand the number of medical residencies needed and to improve physician retention in rural Manitoba, we will establish a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree program at the University of Brandon affiliated with the U of M faculty of medicine, which focuses on training physicians for rural and northern communities.

Kelvin Goertzen (Progressive Conservative)
That's a challenge across Canada and North America when it comes to doctors. Anybody who would tell you there's a quick or easy solution to that is probably not being completely truthful. It is a challenge. One of the things that we have learned when it comes to doctors is; the challenge that we have isn't necessarily, although I think there is a shortage of doctors overall, but there is a particular shortage in rural Canada because a lot of family doctors want to practice in large urban centres. Some of that's the scope of practice issue, they want to be in centres where they can do more kinds of work that they are trained to do. Some of that is they just feel more comfortable and more amenities in some of the larger centres. So, increasing the number of seats in medical school is one thing but it doesn't help if all of those doctors who graduate from medical school just stay in the large urban centres. So, we are increasing the number of seats but we're also putting a focus on students who come from a rural setting. We can't force those students who graduate, who come from a rural setting to practice rurally but they are far more likely to. So, for example, I know that there are students from Steinbach right now in medical school who are very likely to practice in Steinbach when they graduate, so that's something that's positive. We signed a new contract with family doctors with Doctors Manitoba a few months ago, they saw that as a game changer, and they think that that's going to be very, very significant. And then I look at a community like Steinbach and some of what we're doing with expanding the hospital, new operating rooms, and dialysis goes back to my point about doctors wanting to work in larger centres where they have more scope of practice. So sometimes it seems counter-intuitive, and people say you're expanding the facilities, where are you going to get the staff. Actually, larger facilities attract staff. And so, I believe that as we get more and more opportunities for doctors to practice, we're going to draw more and more doctors. 

 

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