View From the Legislature

Tuesday October 4th was an evening of mixed emotions. Most of all, it was an evening of gratitude for the overwhelming support that was given to me by the residents of the Steinbach Constituency.

While the official start of the 2011 provincial election campaign will likely be after the Labour Day long weekend when the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba is asked to dissolve the legislature, the unofficial start to the campaign was this past week.

The sad and shocking news that NDP Leader Jack Layton had passed away only a short time after he announced he was battling a new cancer resulted in thousands of Canadians paying tribute to the populist politician.

Sometime in the next few weeks a provincial election will be called to be held on October 4th.

The roller-coaster economic news coming from the United States these past few weeks points out clearly that it matters how government spends money.

Local residents have been sending a clear message for a number of years now that it is foolish of Premier Greg Selinger and the NDP to force Manitoba Hydro to build a new transmission line (Bi-Pole III) from northeastern Manitoba to Winnipeg down the west side of the province when an eastern route would be shorter, safer and save hundreds of millions of tax dollars.

The news this past week that federal New Democratic Leader, Jack Layton, was taking time away from his job as Official Opposition Leader to fight a battle with cancer, came as a shock to many Canadians who were quick to offer their best wishes to Mr. Layton.

When long-time local residents heard the news earlier this week that former Steinbach MLA, Albert Driedger had passed away, it no doubt brought back a flood of memories regarding the local political stalwart.

While it is not affecting all parts of Manitoba, the fact is that even though we are already into the middle of July, there are still many parts of our province which are battling flood waters and areas where residents are evacuated and are looking for answers.

Often when Canadians think about the work that is done by our military service, they think of the missions that take place far away from Canada.