All three candidates in the race for MLA took the stage Wednesday night to answer questions from the public.
Dozens of Thompsonites sat inside the Manitoba Metis Federation and listened as their questions were answered in turn by each of the candidates, with topics ranging from all-weather roads and northern accessibility to issues surrounding LGBTQ equality and provincial education funding.
Progressive Conservative candidate Kelly Bindle answered a question on personal care beds by reiterating points of his party’s platform that support the growing need for them, and made a promise that he would see as many beds as possible come to the north.
“We will build 1,200 more personal care home beds in the province before the end of our first term, within four years. We have budgeted $20 million for it. I can’t tell you exactly how many will be built in the north, but I can tell you that I will fight to have as many as I can be built in the north. It’s in our budget and we need it.”
NDP candidate Steve Ashton talked about the state of health care in the north and criticized the idea of privatizing health care.
“I don’t believe that you can solve problems in health care by cutting funding. I don’t believe in privatization, period. I believe in public health care, I think that’s the key thing. But to get to the real point of how you focus it here, and it’s not just assuming that if you’re solving the broader issues that it’s going to make a difference here in Thompson. It has to work in Thompson, and it has to work in all the communities in the area.”
Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence addressed the issues surrounding accessibility for disabled people and what she plans to do about it.
“Generally in health care, accessibility is a challenge. And that’s for a variety of reasons; its physical access, getting from Point A to Point B is one thing, the other things that pose challenges for us are the resources there. We would have maybe more people here, but we just don’t have the resources to accommodate them. So I think going forward, it’s about communication and dialogue. That’s my process, is to sit down, do a consultation, understand the issue, define the problem, develop a plan, and go forward with it.”
Advance polls are open at the Westwood Mall and the City Centre Mall from 8 am to 8 pm today and Saturday, with Election Day taking place April 19th.
