They truly could care less.
Scanning the Province of Manitoba’s news releases for the past month, there is only one conclusion a rural Manitoban can conclude: Greg Selinger and his urbanite NDP party couldn’t care less about anything east of Assiniboia Downs.
While the Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) releases flood watch reports for western and southern Manitoba and fire hazard advisories for the north, Greg’s government has paid nothing but lip service to the plight of rural homeowners battling overland flooding.
To be fair, they did announce some assistance for farmers who have excess-moisture insurance.
“Farmers can’t wait when they face the kinds of conditions that have swept across so much of the province,” Selinger said. “We have made excess-moisture insurance claims our highest priority to ensure producers will receive their payments before the end of July.”
As well, Greg and the boys and girls in Winnipeg decided to waive well-water testing fees.
“We are urging residents to test their well water as soon as possible as a precaution, due to record rains,” said Selinger.
The Province of Manitoba will pay all the costs of the precautionary tests, which should start after flooding has subsided. The province normally subsidizes well-water testing but, under the current circumstances, the well owner’s share is being waived for an extended time until July 31 for all flooded areas.
And oh yeah, the new and much-vaunted EMO mobile office has been dispatched to Emerson and Killarney.
What an original idea. Emergency organizations able to go to the scene of an emergency. Good job Greg.
One could wonder if the NDP theme song is Alanis Morissette’s Ironic. For those who prefer another genre of music and do not remember the song, the only thing ironic about Morissette’s song was that each of the examples weren’t ironies.
Each of the government news releases imply that this is a new NDP program to assist rural residents.
Grain insurance — new? Free water testing — New? Mobile emergency services — new?
The only thing about these new initiatives is that they aren’t new initiatives. To be kind, we can just call it an irony. But with thousands of rural Manitobans knee-deep in water and mounting damages, others are calling it another word — apathetic. While the water continues to sweep through southern and western Manitoba, here is a selection of topics our government is busy working upon: Governments of Canada and Manitoba invest in manufacturing excellence; Tenant protection strengthened during low vacancy rates; Ten out of 12 requests for tuition fee increases declined and; of course, Downtown Winnipeg redevelopment project receives $575,000 in provincial support.
While this is a smattering of June news releases by the Province of Manitoba, there is a notable difference in the announcements.
While southern, western and northern Manitoba receive news releases warning of either flooding or fire, other than the noted exceptions, the vast majority of substantive financial actions are in urban areas.
This means only one thing with the trouble now facing rural Manitobans. Either the NDP are being careless or they could care less.