Falcon Ouelette visits Neepawa Rotary

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Published on Friday, November 28, 2014

Robert Falcon-Ouelette meets Amandine Polain, Neepawa’s Rotary exchange student from Belgium. (photo by Ken Waddell)

By Ken Waddell

The Neepawa Banner

Recent Winnipeg mayoral candidate Robert Falcon-Ouelette, spoke on Friday to the Neepawa Rotary Club. In what was described by some as the best speech ever, Falcon-Ouelette outlined some of his vision for the future of Winnipeg and Manitoba. 

He decried what he calls the “Indian industry” where there are 10,000 people working on aboriginal affairs in Ottawa.  As a First Nations man himself, he can get away with saying that. He described how the City of Winnipeg spends huge amounts of money on social issues but doesn’t really bring about any long term solutions.

He is upset that here are 10,000 children in CFS care in Manitoba. “The government can’t love a child”, said Falcon-Ouelette, who has four biological sons and an adopted daughter. It took two years and four judges to get that adoption through the courts. “A person on a lower income than mine can’t afford to do that,” he said. As he pondered why something as simple as giving a child a home needs to take so long and be so complicated, he said, “I met an 18 year homeless man this year who has been in 77 foster homes.” 

Falcon-Ouelette is pondering his political future and wants to make his message resonate with younger people. He’s only 37 himself. Many thousands of people voted in Winnipeg election that had never voted before. He said he told them, “If you don’t vote, why would you expect the politicians to listen to you.”