News
Nov 04, 2011
Tussle over reserves’ water: Manitoba
Selinger, Gerrard tussle over reserves’ water
Federal inaction to blame: premier
By: Larry Kusch
Manitoba is willing to do more than its share to ensure that northerners who lack sewer and water services get them, but Ottawa must step up to the plate, Premier Greg Selinger says.
“We think that it’s a tragedy that it’s not been done,” Selinger said in answer to questions from Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard in the legislature on Tuesday.
“We’re prepared to do our share — more than our share — to ensure that that gets done. But we also need a federal partner that’s willing to put the resources in place…”
On the eighth and final day of the assembly’s fall sitting, Gerrard petitioned the government to ensure all First Nations have access to clean running water and to work with Ottawa to “erase the massive water infrastructure gap” that exists in several communities.
The Liberal leader said the Ontario government was able to reach agreements with Ottawa in the 1990s to provide running water to First Nations that lacked it. Yet thousands of northern Manitobans are still without these basic services. It’s one of the reasons northern communities were more susceptible to the H1N1 flu virus a few years ago, Gerrard said.
“This premier has let the people of northern Manitoba down,” he said.
Selinger bristled at the criticism, saying that Manitoba is helping to train workers to do the sewer and water work when the funding comes. It has also installed airstrips in remote locations and is investing in an all-season road on the east side of Lake Winnipeg that will one day link several communities.
The premier said if Gerrard was so concerned about the problem, he should have used his clout when he was in Jean Chrétien’s Liberal cabinet to do something about it.
Wasagamack, Red Sucker Lake, St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill are among the communities with homes that lack running water.
Gerrard said the problem is the province has not made basic services for these communities a priority. “It has not been ready to partner with the federal government in an effective way.”
In the House, he cited a Free Press series of stories, called No Running Water, that have chronicled the intolerable living conditions in some northern communities.
Ottawa is responsible for First Nations housing. But Selinger made it clear that his government is willing to assist in any federal program to rectify the sewer and water problem.
“Unfortunately, we don’t control the federal budget. That’s their decision to allocate those resources.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 2, 2011 A4
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/selinger-gerrard-tussle-over-reserves-water-133058138.html