GCn20

Would like to send out condolences to Nic Demski on the loss of his "poppa". Our thoughts are with you at this time.

What is unclear to you and give me an example of a tiered plan that doesn't rely on benchmarks or milestones. The fact that it is a Conservative plan is all you are bitching about. Give it a rest. We get it you don't like the PC party. This is as much a reopening plan as anything that's come out from other provinces.

Rural Manitoba is still very staunchly PC. The NDP will need to get their election win in Winnipeg. The NDP might pick up a couple seats rural such as Dauphin and maybe a Brandon seat but that's about it. Gimli/Lakeside is Harry Enns old seat and its as safe as it comes for the PCs. Interlake could swing but I doubt it...not yet. A lot of the polling numbers right now are a reflection of the pandemic management and if that is firmly in the rearview mirror in 2 years I can realistically see PC numbers rebounding. The rural absolutely hates the NDP and will vote PC as long as they are not currently being screwed by them. Winnipeg is the battleground really and it will depend on what happens in the last year of the PC governments reign. Mid-term polling always inflates the hearts and minds of the opposition but is notoriously unreliable. I think a lot of dippers really underestimate just how unappetizing the prospect of Wab Kinew as premier is to a lot of people.

Whether the restrictions make sense or not it's just not sustainable for much longer without a majority of society saying f--- it. It's been near 2 months now since we've been under very heavy restrictions and people want a break from that. If the vaccine cards allow some return to near normal for some people it is a step that unfortunately makes sense. It would be nice if vaccine uptake would hit that 80% as fast as possible dream scenario but there are just too many unmotivated or unwilling to be vaccinated people and they will begin to hold up life for those that have done the right thing by getting the vax as soon as possible. I don't like a two-tiered freedom approach but realistically if we are going to wait for mythical numbers before opening I think the game will be lost because of restriction fatigue. I am hopeful my vax card will allow me to go to Bomber games or a concert this summer, and I hope other people see that and use it as motivation to just bite the bullet and get their vax too.

Agreed. Should not have happened. However, this was also a park left to rot by the NDP after the 2011 flood. It was gross and needed massive rehabilitation. While I do not give the PCs a free pass for going to the private sector, I am also sickened by the NDP's complete abandonment and refusal to do anything about many provincial parks that suffered extensive damage by flooding in 2011. I don't want a government that privatizes provincial parks but I also do not want a government that refuses to invest in and restore them. Our provincial campgrounds are badly in need of modernization and I hope that the government of Manitoba, whoever it is, will invest properly in them and keep them public. ...and the left would want to tax it. In fact. carbon taxes is pretty much taxing air. Well done comrades.

There will be massive resistance to repealing the Indian Act from native leadership everywhere and It's not about fear of getting less. Right now the Indian Act allows for hereditary chiefs which some reserves employ. This is basically a dictatorship because the Indian Act has no built in accountability for chiefs and councils. The abuses of power run rampant on reserves even with elected chiefs and councils. There is massive nepotism, strategic vote buying, and wasteful non-warranted spending. Every reserve has stories of the chief's lavish house in Winnipeg, of expensive vacations, of massive spending on family and friends, all on the reserves dime. Just imagine what any level of government would do if they could freely spend in any manner, for any reason, and not have to give details on where the money went. I'm not saying that all chiefs or councillors are corrupt, a lot of them think they are doing the right thing sometimes when they spend massive amounts of money, but at the end of the day no one (not even the federal government) knows where the money went or whether it was used as allocated. All of this because the Indian Act makes it so. I know of people being BCRed (band council resolution) and forced off their reserves because they were deemed troublemakers by the reserve government of the day. Imagine the government having the power to come and force you out of not just your house, but your entire community, because you were in conflict with them. Sounds bizarre....it happens more than you think and the Indian Act makes it so.

Whew....that's a relief. NAT D was an area I was concerned about. Kongbo will help a lot.

Yep all true....doesn't make it right.

I would just like to take a moment to voice my displeasure with the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakinak chief and council for violating public health orders right now as I type this. A memoriam service to the 215 is being held in Thompson at a residential school memoriam with a gathering of about 150 ppl in attendance. I understand the need for this for healing but this should have been livestreamed and our Grand Chief and Council should have respected the Public Health Orders currently in place. Shame on you MKO for putting lives at risks like this. Northern reserves have been under the harshest restrictions since the pandemic began and this runs contrary to all messaging so far by you and the POM. The 215 was a disgusting find and it brought back a lot trauma from res school survivors but we are also in the midst of a pandemic that is adversely effecting your membership as many reserves are on lockdown right now.

Further to the topic of reconciliation, it can never happen until the Indian Act is abolished. It is a document that strips aboriginals of many freedoms and rights and allows for the government, both federally and local first nation governance, to abuse the people. It does not allow us to define ourselves, it does not allow us to own property on our home lands, it does not allow us to monitor our own governance, it is even the legislation that allowed residential schools in the first place, these among many other rights and freedoms that every other citizen of Canada holds dear. It is paternalistic, outdated, and racist. As long as this piece of crap legislation is allowed to exist aboriginals will forever be 2nd rate citizens through an act of parliament. I'll just give you an example. My grandfather's home, where he raised 11 children for the past 45 years, and was the hub for all of us to gather was taken away by his home reserve recently a couple year's after his death. Although my two aunts and a couple of their children lived there it was deemed that someone else needed the house more so they were evicted and another family moved in. My aunts were forced to go live with other siblings in their houses with their families and our entire family lost our gathering place. Who does this sort of thing and how is it allowed? Check the Indian Act for answers.

My friend, I had to leave to have a chance at success. The government doesn't want to fix this problem imo because this is how they depopulate the reserves. I worked hard and became a successful businessman but I could never have done that on reserve because the avenues available are just not the same. Lending for on reserve business is near impossible to attain because you can never own the property for collateral. No industry/business means no jobs for people. If I could have owned my house and borrowed against the equity I might have stayed on reserve and been able to have a successful business that employs others and help to end the abject poverty and the social conditions it creates. The government needs to get our people working so that they can have a sense of self worth, need to let us own land in our own name on reserve so that we can take pride in our work and possessions. So as it stands the reserves all get a massive exodus from the youth who most want to make an honest living because that is the only option. Steven Harper's apology was beautiful and heartfelt. I have no doubt about that. It meant a lot to us. I just wish the governments since then would have followed up.

As a residential school survivor I will share my opinion. There really is no way of making reparations for this sad chapter. It must be acknowledged, remembered, but MOST importantly the effects it has had on native society must be understood. Generations separated from parents and community has had a massive trickle down effect to today. Native children having children today have no parental modelling to learn from because their parents and even grand parents don't even know how to role model for their children because they were never taught how. If the government of Canada wants to start making reparations then start in the present by overhauling CFS so that it becomes proactive instead of reactive. Bring back parental guidance and supports so that the new generations can learn how to teach their own children morals, and values and what it takes to be a responsible parent. Start by giving aboriginals a hand up, not a hand out. Create industry on reserves so that there is meaningful employment. The lazy Indian myth only persists to this day because the government stuck our people in the middle of nowhere with no prospect for employment. Start by fixing the water and housing crisis plaguing every reserve. Start by allowing first nations people to actually own the land and house they live on/in so that they may start building wealth. Start by forcing native leadership to produce financial statements to their people so that there is transparency. I could rattle off a hundred more things.....but I'll leave you with those to chew on for a bit.

One does not have to be complicit to be indirectly responsible. I was planned...my momma was no *****...are you suggesting you were the result of a broken rubber down Higgins?

Well some pretty damning reports about Chinese state sponsored scientists from Wuhan stealing from the Canadian Virology lab here in Winnipeg and some investigations suggesting that Covid leaked from that very same lab and did not come from bats. It doesn't necessarily mean we are responsible for Covid....but we might be.

Least we can do since the evidence is mounting that Canada is indirectly responsible for this whole covid mess.

Maybe so...but realistically Alberta's version of the NDP is far to the right of the political spectrum than any other provinces version of the NDP. If Manitoba's NDP were Alberta's NDP I would vote for them too. Agreed...in a couple months when we have the pandemic under control here our work can't stop.

Pallister ran on reducing spending and fiscal responsibility after the NDP almost bankrupted us and he won back to back massive majorities based on that. Covid will likely be his government's undoing because it is a no win situation but if you guys think Wobbly Canoe the woman beater is a step up then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. No offense but that is truly a stupid question. Just really dumb. The Selinger NDP government was completely inept and dysfunctional.

About as well as one would expect however the shitshows that came before them paved the way. One can't sit and say that any of these provinces would have been better off under their predecessors. When given the chance they failed epically...especially in Manitoba..who overwhelmingly decided to take out the trash. All these provinces may decide to do so next election again and maybe rightfully so but some of the posters on here pretending that the NDP or Liberals are some kind of beacons in a dark night are truly delusional. They better get a heck of a lot better than the last time they governed or its just a plug your nose and vote scenario.

Exactly right

Well all these provinces that voted in Conservative governments did so for good reason. For all we know a pandemic handled by the left may have turned out worse given their dreary records when in power. Personally, i believe no one is as used to running a socialist style society so i think the NDP might be a better choice in a pandemic, however, in normal conditions they have simply proven to be incompetent and thats why we have what we have around the country. Well all these provinces that voted in Conservative governments did so for good reason. For all we know a pandemic handled by the left may have turned out worse given their dreary records when in power. Personally, i believe no one is as used to running a socialist style society so i think the NDP might be a better choice in a pandemic, however, in normal conditions they have simply proven to be incompetent and thats why we have what we have around the country.

Interesting, I'll look him up. There is no doubt that creating ICU beds is challenging indeed, but in November we already had over 100 beds so the suggestion we only had 55 available is patently false...that is what I was attempting to refute. Are we short of the 176...sure are...but this week we will have 134 in operation. That's a far cry from the 55 that was being peddled as the number of beds earlier in this thread and it's a far cry more than the 90 beds that existed in 2017.

Sorry missed the convo...who's coming here? The rationale is truly warped. I honestly think they should ban ALL mentions of Covid from the various social medias. It is bringing out all the nutjobs and giving them an audience.

We have had 110 ICU beds since the beginning of the 2nd wave. Non ICU beds become ICU beds once you convert them to be ICU beds. The difference in care is no different. Yes, training ICU staff should not have been a need, yes taking up regular beds and converting them is lowering capacity elsewhere however those were beds that were ICU to begin with a few years ago. It's not an epic transition. Is a pandemic forcing us to open a ton of beds in less than ideal ways...sure...but the ICU bed count is higher than it was when Pallister took power. We were going to be screwed no matter what...NDP government or not. I think there is a lot we can blame Pallister for in the handling of the pandemic but the ICU capacity right now is not one of them. We are a small province that over doubled it's ICU capacity over the past year and we just can't keep pace with a pandemic that is ravaging our province because self entitled assholes just don't get the message, and our prairie neighbors to the West are making outstandingly stupid decisions. The third wave started in Alberta and they will likely start the 4th wave too.

We currently have 119, with another 16 coming on line this week, ICU beds in Manitoba and have had 110+ since the beginning of wave 2. That's 15 more than the 2017 peak stated earlier. Yes, Pallister closed beds in his health care reform but that has absolutely nothing to do with our current lack of beds. We would have been short no matter what because people are stupid and the virus seems to love stupid people. Fact of the matter is that we have more beds now than in 2017. If you want to argue extra cost associated with getting more beds, or the extra ICU training required to staff them costing us a fortune, you will find no argument. However, you are suggesting that we don't have the capacity we had in 2017 and that's simply untrue.

Policed by who exactly? The gestapo? Maybe we ask Putin for help. Get real...restrictions only work if people are willing...prohibition taught us that. Trying to control a virus is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. There is no government anywhere having a complete success with it. Canada was especially f'ed with a late vaccine rollout.