Trail Talking

September was a busy month, full of fun events to kick off the fall season in the Dawson Trail constituency and elsewhere in Manitoba.

I was able to attend Koushkoupayh Days (Two Days the Metis Way) in Brandon. This is a weekend-long event that gathers people from all over Manitoba with the intent of educating and celebrating Metis culture, and I am pleased that I was able to take part. In early September, I participated in parades as part of Dawson Trail Days and Lorette Family Fun Days. As well, I helped serve food at a few of the fall suppers held throughout Dawson Trail. I’m glad that I was able to be out and about, interacting with constituents at these fun events.

The past month also brought the first Rail Safety Awareness Week in our province. From Sept. 24 to Sept. 28, I partnered with CN Rail, as well as a few of the schools in Dawson Trail, to educate Manitobans about rail safety. This effort followed the Legislative Assembly’s passing of my private member’s bill this past spring to establish the Rail Safety Awareness Week Act – legislation to create an annual Rail Safety Awareness Week in late September. Rail Safety Awareness Week involves public education, and I encourage everyone to take part in any way they can.

There are many more bills to come from our Progressive Conservative team. With the summer over, our government is resuming the legislative session and doing more work to fix Manitoba’s finances, improve provincial services and rebuild the economy. On the financial front, the Office of the Auditor General of Manitoba has now reaffirmed our responsible approach to fiscal management and prudent budgeting.

After forming government more than two years ago, we have hit and even outperformed our budget targets. In a recent report, the Auditor General has noted that under our PC government in 2016-17, the actual provincial deficit was lower than the budgeted deficit. We have also reduced the projected 2017-18 deficit to $726 million, which is $114 million lower than budgeted. And we are projecting a $521-million deficit for 2018-19.

We are making real progress for Manitobans with effective fiscal practices while repairing, improving and protecting the services that families across our province value and rely on.