Happy Fall everyone!

As your Minister of Health — and as a former full-time nurse — I carry your stories with me. When we launched our listening tour in late 2023, we promised to act and report back. I’m happy to report that while there’s still much more work to do, we’ve made real progress that’s making a difference for Manitobans.

We’ve hired a net new 3,400 healthcare workers. That includes 285 doctors, over 1,100 nurses and over 400 allied healthcare professionals. Last year, we hired a record number of doctors and were not slowing down. We’ve opened four new extended hours clinics in Winnipeg, including one at the Misericordia Hospital, which is serving thousands of Union Station constituents.

Last fall, we made prescription birth control free, covering about 60 methods, so cost is no longer a barrier, and you have the freedom to choose what works best for your body. Well over 120,000 women have benefited from this life-changing investment. This spring, we expanded coverage to include copper IUDs and emergency contraceptives, eliminating upfront costs that could reach $600. And we’ve made menopause care better for women and those who need it by making HRT free as part of our Manitoba Enhanced Pharmacare Program. These changes are real steps toward equity, giving women and families the security to plan their futures with confidence and more affordability.

With the return of Parliament for the fall session, I remain committed to representing you and advocating for the people of Winnipeg West. I am pleased to share some of the important progress we are making locally and across Canada to improve the lives of families in our community.

Our government is taking decisive steps to tackle the housing crisis. We have launched Build Canada Homes, a federal agency designed to accelerate the development of affordable housing. By working closely with provinces, municipalities, Indigenous communities, and private partners, this agency is streamlining approvals, providing incentives, and helping homes get built more quickly and affordably.

In Winnipeg West, the Naawi-Oodena project, located between Tuxedo and River Heights, is set to create approximately 2,100 new homes, with 20 percent of these units dedicated to affordable housing. The first phase is currently underway which will deliver up to 1,200 homes. This initiative will open doors for many families seeking safe and affordable places to live.

Strong, vibrant communities depend on spaces where families can come together, stay active, and foster meaningful connections. The newly redeveloped playground at John Steel Park in Westwood has officially opened with support from federal investment. The playground includes a fully accessible ramped play structure, independent play equipment, and swings, providing a welcoming and safe environment for children and families to enjoy.

Whatever it looks like, school refusal in children and teenagers is real. Whether refusing to attend school through gulps of tears, or giving up after an inability to focus on tasks that will get them out the door, or a staunch refusal that will end with aggression, usually the underlying problem is something absolutely treatable: anxiety.

In a webinar by foremost experts through the Anxiety and Depression Association of America called “What Parents Can Do to Help Their Child with School Refusal,” some strategies are discussed.

“Sometime you have to know a bit about how anxiety works”, said Dr. Lynne Siqueland, “because some things that are the most helpful are different than what parents might feel is needed in the moment.”

“Kids look to parents for help not feel anxious,” explained Dr. Eli Lebowitz. “You want to keep bad things away from your kid, and anxiety looks like a bad thing…” But when trying to somehow keep anxiety away, “what you are saying is that it’s not OK to be anxious, that it’s not good for you, you can’t handle that.”

I love when someone approaches me and says “I want to see an article on …”

Its tough coming up with new ideas all the time, so please, send me your requests!

This week, a client said, “I want to see a column on why my dog always rolls in the most disgusting things.” So, here we go.

We see this action in our domestic pets all the time. We had a Jack Russel in the store the other day, and I gave him a treat that was pure fish. He took it, dropped it and started rolling on it. Fish, tripe, we use the stronger scented treats for dogs visiting the store because there are so many smells in the store, we need the most attractive treats to get them to take one from us.

This fall, I’ll be introducing a private member’s bill to modernize who gets to participate in Manitoba’s municipal and school board elections. The legislation would extend voting rights to permanent residents and lower the voting age to 16 years old, two long-overdue changes that would make our local democracy more fair, inclusive and forward-looking.

Across the world, other jurisdictions are already taking steps in this direction. Austria lowered the voting age to 16 in 2007. Scotland and Wales allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections. And just this year, the UK Parliament has been debating a similar change. In Canada, many communities are actively discussing how to better engage young and underrepresented voices in local decision-making.

There’s a good reason for this: people who vote early are more likely to become lifelong voters. But right now, young people aged 18-24 have the lowest turnout of any age group. Giving them the opportunity to vote while they’re still in school and living at home could change that and create a new generation of engaged citizens. In the case of school board elections, it would also mean that trustees have a direct responsibility to listen to the students they serve.

The bill would also give permanent residents the right to vote in local elections. These are people who have lived in our communities for years, raised families here and paid the same property taxes as everyone else. Many are homeowners. All contribute to our cities and schools. But under the current rules, they have no say in who leads their municipalities or their children’s education. That’s not right.

The Assiniboia Chamber of Commerce has officially been awarded cccreditation by the Chamber Accreditation Council of Canada (CACC), recognizing its commitment to excellence in leadership, governance, and operations. This designation is valid for five years, from 2026 through to the end of 2030.

Accreditation is the highest national standard of chamber excellence in Canada. It demonstrates to the members, board of directors, and the west Winnipeg community it serves that the Assiniboia Chamber has dependable governance policies and resilient core operations aligned with best practices across the national Chamber Network.

To achieve accreditation, a chamber must submit its policies and procedures for review by the CACC, which evaluates them against a rigorous set of national standards. These standards were first developed in 2004 by a team of chamber executives in collaboration with provincial and territorial chambers and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. They are reviewed annually to ensure they reflect the evolving needs of chambers and boards of trade across the country.

The CACC is a non-profit organization governed by a board of directors composed of provincial and territorial chamber executives, along with representatives from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Canada. The council reviews applications annually and promotes accredited chambers as leaders in their communities and across the broader chamber network.