Canadian Politics

[Mark H.]

In fairness to Filmon, he was dealing with severely reduced federal transfer payments. Similar cuts happened in most provinces, at that time.

[SpeedFlex27]

On 2022-07-26 at 7:53 AM, blue_gold_84 said:

Meanwhile, in Alabamberta:

And she's somehow a frontrunner in the UCP leadership race.

Notley will eat her alive in any election debate they have. 

[the watcher]

8 hours ago, Mark H. said:

In fairness to Filmon, he was dealing with severely reduced federal transfer payments. Similar cuts happened in most provinces, at that time.

Nobody ever seems to acknowledge that. Saskatchewans answer was to shut down hospitals . The  Filmon government chose to take the actions they took. 

[Mark F]

9 hours ago, WildPath said:

I don't think this is incompetence. This is things going according to plan. Run public organizations into to ground to lay the foundation for privatization.

 I agree, very good at doing that.

incompetent otherwise.

Filmon sold off MTS.

9 hours ago, Mark H. said:

In fairness to Filmon, he was dealing with severely reduced federal transfer payments. Similar cuts happened in most provinces, at that time.

my wife is a nurse.  I lived through the filmon nursing mess. 

do not agree that it was caused by transfer payment issues. it was " slash and burn"

their advisor on health care was an American, from a profit based hospital system.

filmon wanted turn home care into for profit. 

https://policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/ralph-klein-should-know-what-manitobans-know-about-profit-health-care

"When the Filmon government took office, Manitoba's home care program was a model of cost efficiency and quality care. The government decided to fix this. For no reason other than an ideological commitment to turning public services over to the market, in 1996 the government announced a reckless plan to contract out one quarter of Winnipeg's personal care workforce. "Reckless" because the only way private, for-profit companies can provide such important health care services at lower cost is by cutting wages and undermining working conditions and the quality of care.

In the face of massive public opposition, including a remarkable and widely-supported strike by Manitoba's community care workers, the government backed down. But not for long.

Within months, they had contracted out a portion of home care services in Manitoba to the Olsten Corporation, a US-based multinational that had a trail of lawsuits and fraud investigations behind it in the United States. When the tawdry truth about Olsten was revealed, along with the fact that privatization was actually saving no money, the government abandoned this ill-conceived idea, leaving Olsten to close up shop and slink out of Manitoba."

 

I remember this. so horrible.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Mark F

[Mark H.]

9 minutes ago, Mark F said:

do not agree that it was caused by transfer payment issues. it was " slash and burn"

their advisor on health care was an American, from a profit based hospital system.

filmon wanted turn home care into for profit. 

Sorry, but you can't disagree with facts. Martin / Chretien slashed transfer payments at historic rates - it was a big factor. 

[the watcher]

6 minutes ago, Mark F said:

 I agree, very good at doing that.

incompetent otherwise.

Filmon sold off MTS.

my wife is a nurse.  I lived through the filmon nursing mess. 

do not agree that it was caused by transfer payment issues. it was " slash and burn"

their advisor on health care was an American, from a profit based hospital system.

filmon wanted turn home care into for profit. 

The Chretien/ Martin federal government balanced the budget. Alot of that was done by slashing transfer payments. Provinces that relied on those payments needed to adjust.  Unfortunately most who did went after healthcare budgets. As I said Sasks answer was to close hospitals. 

[Mark H.]

41 minutes ago, the watcher said:

Nobody ever seems to acknowledge that. Saskatchewans answer was to shut down hospitals . The  Filmon government chose to take the actions they took. 

It doesn't fit the general narrative - it was a Liberal government that cut those transfer payments.

[the watcher]

2 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

It doesn't fit the general narrative - it was a Liberal government that cut those transfer payments.

It's how Martin balanced the budget

[Tracker]

10 hours ago, Mark F said:

b.s.

this is exactly what happened under gary filmon cons. luckily doer got elected and fixed the mess.

hopefully same thing can be done by current ndp.  Manitoba  cons are incompetent, and this is not recent.

 

last good thing they did  in Manitoba was the floodway. sixty years ago. pathetic.

 

A friend who was in healthcare management at that time said that Doer only partially restored nursing staff levels, but better than it was before. Nursing staff levels are still not back to pre-Filmon levels.

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, Mark H. said:

It doesn't fit the general narrative - it was a Liberal government that cut those transfer payments.

 

"In 1990, the (filmon) government's massive cutbacks to the health care system forced nurses across the province into the longest and largest nursing strike in Canadian history. As continuing to provide adequate care under extremely difficult and stressful circumstances was important to nurses, their essential services agreements ensured patients were cared for.

During this time, the MNU took the lead in publicly supporting nurses and rose as a front-line defender of quality health care. The final settlement gave nurses many of the benefits they enjoy today."

if you notice.... didnt happen in other Provinces. same transfer formula.

 

whatever. filmon was wonderful.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Mark F

[the watcher]

Quote :  

if you notice.... didnt happen in other Provinces. same transfer formula.

whatever.

filmon was great. 

 

The cuts from the Liberal Federal government  affected provinces differently according to how much they relied on transfer payments. As I said before Saskatchewans answer was to close hospitals. 

And nowhere did anyone say Filmon was great.  Just that there were causes for the provincial cuts above and beyond PC idealology.  

[Mark F]

2 minutes ago, the watcher said:

Quote :  

if you notice.... didnt happen in other Provinces. same transfer formula.

whatever.

filmon was great. 

 

The cuts from the Liberal Federal government  affected provinces differently according to how much they relied on transfer payments. As I said before Saskatchewans answer was to close hospitals. 

And nowhere did anyone say Filmon was great.  Just that there were causes for the provincial cuts above and beyond PC idealology.  

I just looked it up.... seems the cuts you refer to happened 1995. the filmon caused strike was 1990.

 

 

[17to85]

11 hours ago, Mark H. said:

In fairness to Filmon, he was dealing with severely reduced federal transfer payments. Similar cuts happened in most provinces, at that time.

Yeah everyone praises Paul Martin for balancing the budget but he did that on the back of forcing provinces to make the cuts.

[do or die]

3 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Yeah everyone praises Paul Martin for balancing the budget but he did that on the back of forcing provinces to make the cuts.

The same Paul Martin who urged people to "buy Canadian", while running Canada Steamship Lines International......under the Panamanian "flag of convenience" to avoid Canadian taxes.

[the watcher]

3 hours ago, Mark F said:

I just looked it up.... seems the cuts you refer to happened 1995. the filmon caused strike was 1990.

 

 

Chretien started his cuts after after the 1993 election if I'm not mistaken. Filmon who was already trying to make cuts went hard after the medical budget after that. I can't speak to the nurses strike as I don't remember the details on that.The 1990 provincial election was on the grounds that Filmon needed a majority to govern properly. It was certainly a controversial time. Alot of anger flying around including serious death threats to the Premier and the Health minister

[Mark H.]

4 hours ago, Mark F said:

 

whatever. filmon was wonderful.

 

 

No, he wasn't. But there were additional factors at play.

[Mark F]

6 hours ago, Mark H. said:

No, he wasn't. But there were additional factors at play.

in 1990?

what were they?

[Mark F]

6 hours ago, the watcher said:

Chretien started his cuts after after the 1993 election if I'm not mistaken.

so, then....not a factor in filmon attack on nurses in 1990.

generally speaking, conservatives, no matter what the party name, want to dismantle public health care. 

🙂

Edited July 29, 2022 by Mark F

[Mark H.]

3 hours ago, Mark F said:

in 1990?

what were they?

I'm not focussing on only 1990. The cuts happened over several years.  They hired an American consultant a few years after 1990 (name escapes me), who recommended more cuts  

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-politics-prime-minister-hate-filled-comments-1.6535354

Quote

A P.E.I. pub has pulled photos of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from its social media accounts after getting a barrage of hate-filled comments and phone calls.

 

Trudeau had lunch at Lone Oak's Charlottetown pub during a brief stop on the Island last week.

While at the pub, owners, staff and customers had their photos taken with the prime minister. The pub later posted those photos on its social media platforms.

"So within a few hours, we had thousands of comments, we were getting hundreds of private messages, we are now getting phone calls to the brewery and all of these comments are extremely negative, vulgar, there is a lot of profanity being used, sexualizing our staff," Murphy said in an interview outside the pub.

"To see a group of individuals, who have never even visited our establishment, who are taking a political stance, to make threats against our brewery, to say that they are going to take us down, that they are going to wait until we declare bankruptcy until they finish with us, that was really hard for our staff to see," he said. 

In addition to the social media comments, private messages and phone calls, photos of Lone Oak's three owners have appeared on a national website calling out perceived Trudeau supporters.

Politician supports small business. Small business shares said support. Small business gets harassed by sociopathic assclowns on social media.

Social media is garbage.

[Noeller]

Same thing happened in Calgary at one of the most popular breweries in town. People lost their minds. ******* social media... Complete cesspool 

[Tracker]

13 hours ago, Mark H. said:

I'm not focussing on only 1990. The cuts happened over several years.  They hired an American consultant a few years after 1990 (name escapes me), who recommended more cuts  

Which was exactly what Filmon and Co. wanted. I recall that the consultant(s) demanded a $100,000 remodeling of the office(s) they were housed in. And got it.

[WildPath]

Quote

Environmentalists and property owners along the Brokenhead River are raising red flags about Beausejour’s plan to dump heavy wastewater from a new treatment plant into a channel that has many rare species, and is popular for swimming and fishing.

“A river should not be dumping grounds for anyone. Water is a basic human right and this was just written off completely. None of our concerns were taken into account,” said Aliza Delwar, who lives part-time at a residence near the River’s Edge Golf Course.

The Manitoba Water Services Board accepted a construction company’s $12.4-million bid to build the facility last month. The province had approved the proposal to upgrade the town’s water system to serve the growing population in late 2020.

The site will use a purification process known as reverse osmosis. Liquid will be filtered through a microporous membrane to eliminate usable water and concentrate; the latter — reject minerals, metals and organics — will be dumped into the Brokenhead River.

The initial blueprint, first advertised to the public via community newspaper bulletin in June 2020, sparked backlash from ecologists, scientists and others.

The province collected nearly 50 submissions from concerned citizens about everything from the potential harm to aquatic life, to its impact on the wells of residents who live outside the town, to how drought and dams could affect how quickly concentrate is diluted.

The arrival of building materials for the plant (including a pipeline that is being installed along Park Avenue and Highway 44 to dump waste into the river) has renewed concerns. Residents argue there’s been minimal public consultation and consideration for the project’s impact on the waterway.

One full-time resident on the river said it’s ironic she has to pay to maintain a holding tank to ensure her water waste, be it from a shower or otherwise, does not harm the channel.

“It’s $126 for every pump out and we’ve got to get it pumped out every four weeks. That’s a lot of money per year. Don’t get me wrong, I get it. You don’t want to contaminate the river, but then you’ve got the town going and doing it,” she said.

“I understand the town needs a new plant, but to dump the waste into somebody else’s backyard and make it their problem? It just doesn’t seem right.”

The plant is expected to open by late 2023. The dumping site will be approximately three kilometres east of the town, near homes, cottages and a seasonal campground site.

A retired professor of water quality and toxicology at the University of Winnipeg penned a 49-page report to the province outlining her worries. In her presentation, Eva Pip questioned why reverse osmosis was chosen for the project, given the process is wasteful, and noted bioaccumulation’s negative effects on ecosystems.

“The large difference between the effluent and the river water in the vicinity of the discharge and beyond, will impact many aquatic organisms in the river, which contains vulnerable and endangered soft-water species such as the nationally recognized endangered chestnut lamprey,” she wrote.

Pip has been studying the Brokenhead River since 1975. During that time, she has witnessed growing development and pollution take a toll on the ecosystem.

An excerpt from her submission states concentrate could change community composition and contribute to the disappearance of some species downstream, with a related reduction in species diversity and ecosystem stability.

“The concentrate will also contribute nitrogen and phosphorus to the nutrient load of Lake Winnipeg,” she said.

A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba Environment, Climate and Parks is “confident” the waste will not adversely affect the river following a “rigorous environmental assessment” and “thorough review by scientists and other experts.”

They helped to inform the terms and conditions of the town’s licence to protect the environment, per the province.

“The likelihood of unforeseen impact on the Brokenhead River is very low. The plant’s treatment process is well understood. It uses technology that is commonly used as best practice throughout the country,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement, adding remediation is available if deemed necessary.

The spokesperson said the town will closely monitor the effect on the waterway for the first two years of operations and that period could be extended, depending on findings.

Once the site is up and running, wastewater is projected to be dumped into the river at a rate of roughly six litres per second.

Pip estimates 67 Olympic-sized swimming pools of wastewater will enter the waterway annually. As far as she is concerned, the resulting impact still needs to be “properly assessed.”

In her submission to the province, she noted she has reviewed and evaluated many environmental impact models in sewage, water treatment and other areas over the last 50-plus years. “Nobody is ever held accountable when the projections and models fail, and reality turns out to be very different,” she wrote.

Beausejour Mayor Ray Schirle did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Neither did Chief Gordon Bluesky of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation.

The reeve of the Rural Municipality of Brokenhead said the province has addressed the RM’s concerns.

“It’s not our water treatment plant. It’s the town of Beausejour’s — and they’ve fulfilled the needs of the province…There’s got to be progression and growth, and there’s a cost to everything,” said Brad Saluk.

Planning NEW treatment plants with the intention to dump sewage into waterbodies seems so backwards. 😒

As communities grow in size, developers need to be footing the bill for proper sewage treatment.

Raising a stink over wastewater – Winnipeg Free Press

[Mark H.]

1 hour ago, WildPath said:

Planning NEW treatment plants with the intention to dump sewage into waterbodies seems so backwards. 😒

As communities grow in size, developers need to be footing the bill for proper sewage treatment.

Raising a stink over wastewater – Winnipeg Free Press

This should no longer be acceptable.

[Mark H.]

^^ After all the fuss about what Winnipeg is doing (or not doing), limitations on livestock farming, concerns about Lake Winnipeg - something like this gets approved.