View From the Legislature

This is a particularly busy session of the Manitoba Legislature in terms of legislation that I am sponsoring. All told I will be introducing more than 15 bills for debate. They are a combination of legislation that I brought with me from my previous role as Minister of Legislative and Public Affairs and those that come from my new role as Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

This past week I was managing legislation from both of those roles, and the topics were as diverse as the portfolios themselves. The first was an amendment to the provincial Coat of Arms, Emblems and Manitoba Tartan Act. This is a bill that I first advanced last October to designate the polar bear as an official provincial emblem of Manitoba. Already very well associated with Manitoba, with Churchill being considered the polar bear capital of the world, making the polar bear an official emblem of Manitoba perhaps just makes official what many already considered to be true.

For Manitoba, the polar bear is as significant to the history and culture of our province as it is economically through the tourism that it generates. Both in the north at Churchill or in southern Manitoba at the Assiniboine Park Zoo and the Polar Bear Conservation Centre, many people come from around Canada and the world to see and learn about this magnificent animal. Last Wednesday the legislation received support from all political parties in the Legislature and passed third reading officially making the polar bear an emblem of Manitoba. It joins the plains bison in this category, helping establish both a southernly and northernly animal as emblems of Manitoba.

The second piece of legislation was in my role as Minister of Justice and are further amendments to the Police Services Act. The amendments, among other things, will help establish both province wide policing standards and the Manitoba Criminal Intelligence Centre (MCIC) to encourage the sharing of information between police forces.

Ensuring that there are specific police standards across all police forces in Manitoba helps to bring our province in line with other provinces. It will ensure that consistent training and measurements are in place. Rather than being a reaction to any one incident, these changes follow a scheduled review of the Act and represent best standards in policing. Similarly, the establishment of the MCIC will benefit police services as they share information to better coordinate their response to policing matters.

Manitoba is fortunate to have dedicated and professional men and women working and serving in a number of municipal police forces and in the RCMP. I look forward to working with them as we move forward on these changes.

As new legislation comes forward from my department and across government, I will be providing updates for you on the proposed changes.