Manitoba throne speech promises supervised consumption site, overpass at fatal bus crash site by January

Manitoba’s NDP government is promising construction, saying in its third Throne Speech that it will build an overpass at the site of a bus crash that killed 17 seniors, establish the province’s first supervised consumption site and build a new fuel-burning generating station to address predicted electricity shortages.

The address – which outlines Webb Kinew’s government’s priorities for the upcoming legislative session – also committed to improving the health care system for workers and patients.

A copy of the speech read in the legislature Tuesday says the province will begin the process of eliminating mandatory overtime for health-care workers, starting with nurses. Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville.

“You wouldn’t board a plane with a pilot who worked two back-to-back shifts. Why should you go to an ER where the nurses are told to do the same job,” the speech said.

There is also a pledge to legislate lower staff-to-patient ratios in unnamed priority areas of the health care system.

Speaking at a restricted briefing before the throne speech was read, Kinew said the province would first consider eliminating mandatory overtime and legislating staffing ratios in emergency departments.

He took aim at health-care administrators, saying the province has enough nurses to end mandatory overtime, but it will continue unless leaders are given a strict deadline.

“We feel there is a performance issue with our management in health care and we need to address that further.”

Meanwhile, patients will soon have access to digital health cards and, by the end of the year, a new online portal to view their lab results and vaccinations.

The speech said the province is also promising to create a patient safety charter that will be enshrined in law as “your right to good health care.”

The government’s pledge to build an overpass at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada near Carberry is expected to be celebrated by locals who fiercely opposed the government’s initial proposal – an intersection configuration that would have required a merge and a U-turn to get onto the busy Trans-Canada Highway.

“This intersection is now different than any other intersection in Manitoba because of the lives lost and how sad it was to see those senior citizens die,” Kinew said.

“And because this intersection is different, with that scrutiny and that history, it means we have an extra responsibility to listen to the community’s voice on this.”

On June 15, 2023, a semi-trailer truck and a bus carrying senior citizens going to a casino collided at an intersection, killing 17 people. Eight other people on the bus were seriously injured.

Some area residents, as well as Carberry’s city council, wanted an overpass at the intersection, but the government initially said this was not an option because the current traffic volume is not sufficient.

The Throne Speech committed to starting design work for the overpass next year.

The speech also promised to open a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg in January, but did not specify where it would be located or how the government could guarantee timely Health Canada approval.

Kinew said he’s confident the January deadline can be met, as the province has already done a lot of work on the application and will now file the paperwork and consult with the public.

The province will apply for a license through Health Canada’s Urgent Public Health Needs stream.

The scope of the new $3-billion fuel-producing system at Westman is larger than Manitoba Hydro’s original plan for a $1.36-billion station to prevent the province from running out of power in future winters.

The proposed facility will have three turbines, instead of the previous plan of two, producing 750 megawatts of electricity. It will start by burning natural gas, but Kinyu hopes the facility will eventually be powered by clean renewable energy.

Work on 600 MW of wind power is already underway in the province.

Other infrastructure projects in the throne speech include starting construction on Victoria Hospital’s emergency department in January, a new ER in Ericsdale this winter and connecting the Trans-Canada Highway from the Ontario border to West Hawk Lake next year.

Speech also committed to finding a way to help Manitobans with the cost of groceries.

The province will conduct a study, and Kinew told reporters that next year’s budget will include some mechanisms to help people reduce costs.