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- Published on Friday, May 15, 2015
By Leanne Rowat
Riding Mountain MLA
Another provincial budget just means more debt and more NDP broken promises for Manitobans. On Thursday, April 30 finance minister Greg Dewar presented Budget 2015 that neglects to address the priorities that are important in Riding Mountain.
The doctor shortage that has been continuously closing our local emergency rooms is still being ignored by this government. This budget does not address the need to bring more doctors and nurses into our communities. It is disappointing to see the government not only breaking its promise to have a family doctor for every Manitoban by 2015, but failing to take responsibility for its inability to provide taxpayers with timely access to health care. During his speech the minister actually said, "Rural and northern Manitobans are also getting better care closer to home." It is probably a safe guess that most people in our constituency would strongly disagree with that statement.
Similarly, personal care homes in our communities are not getting the attention they deserve in Budget 2015. No strategy has been presented by this government to get additional staff or more places for those on wait lists. Instead, job postings for mental health resource nurses with Prairie Mountain Health have remained vacant for up to 13 months.
It is not just rural health care that this budget fails to mention. It's also silent, yet again, on the rural airport maintenance program. This program was cut by NDP in 1999, even as it continues to use these airports for much-needed air ambulances. Our government should look at the increased funding in excess of $500,000 that Saskatchewan is investing in its rural airports.
Even as NDP neglects these important issues in Westman, it's our constituents and the rest of Manitobans who continue to be nickel-and-dimed by this government. This budget projects a $420 million deficit for 2015, up from $350 million last year.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact my office in Russell at 204-773-3618/1-888-548-7499 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
