Jon Gerrard

About Jon Gerrard

When were you born?

Between 1946 and 1965 (Baby Boomer)

Tell our readers a bit about your professional life. What do you do for a living? If you're an incumbent candidate, what did you do before you entered politics?

Before entering politics and running for political office, I was practicing as a pediatrician looking after children with blood problems and cancer at the Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg and CancerCare Manitoba (then the Manitoba Cancer foundation). In addition to looking after children, I was teaching at the University of Manitoba medical school and doing research (both basic science and clinical trials).

I grew up in Saskatoon and obtained a BA in economics at the University of Saskatchewan. Then I entered medical school at McGill University, graduating in 1971. During medical school I had an elective period in northern medicine in northern Newfoundland and Labrador, and another working doing research and learning about clinical care at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London, England.

Following graduation, I completed an internship, residence, fellowship and Ph.D. in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at the University of Minnesota. After practicing in Minneapolis and a further six months doing research in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, I returned to Canada – coming to Winnipeg to accept a position in the Department of Pediatrics.

From 1980 to 1993, I worked at the Children’s Hospital. From 1985 to 1992 I was the head of the section of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology.

In the federal election of 1993, I was elected the Member of Parliament for Portage-Interlake and was chosen to be a member of Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s cabinet – being responsible initially for Science, Research and Development with the responsibility for Western Economic Diversification being added for 1996 and 1997. In these positions I was very involved in promoting access to the internet across Canada through Community Access Centres and School Net. I was also involved in an initiative to promote environmental industries and recognized the importance of these industries in addressing environmental issues.

In 1998, I became the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party and in 1999 was elected the Member of the Legislative Assembly in River Heights. I continued as the Manitoba Liberal leader until 2013.

Since 2013 I have continued as the MLA for River Heights working with leaders Rana Bokhari, Judy Klassen (interim leader) and Dougald Lamont (since 2017).

In the last 10 years our caucus has produced reports on Diabetes, on Children in the care of Child and Family Services, on Brain Health, on Manitoba seniors, on the path to ending homelessness using an approach which will house people when they first become homeless, on a potential ecological corridor along the Little Saskatchewan River and on two significant public health issues – radon exposure in Manitoba homes which can lead to lung cancer, and lead exposure which can result in learning and behavioural problems in children. The latter report goes into the evidence for a relationship between lead exposure of infants and young children and criminal activity as a youth and/or young adult.

In addition to these reports the Manitoba Liberal Caucus has introduced, and got passed, a bill to allow retired teachers a place on the board looking after teachers pension plans, and another bill to enable family councils in personal care homes.

We have also stood strong on many important issues including on the return of $338 million to the children who were in care and from whom this money was stolen by NDP and PC governments.

What's the highest level of education you've attained?

Degree in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine or optometry

How long have you lived in the constituency? If you don't currently live there, what led you to run there instead of where you live?

21 years

What is the biggest challenge facing your constituency, and how would you address it?

In my many discussions with people in River Heights, there are four big issues which stand out.

First is health care and the need to provide short run solutions to ensure our health system is properly staffed so that health care professionals are able to give high quality compassionate care and so that wait times in emergency rooms and for diagnostic and surgical procedures are drastically reduced. At the same time people are very concerned about improvements needed in mental health and addictions as part of an overall effort to improve health care. Further, people recognize we must do very much better at keeping people healthy to prevent sickness. Our proposals to address these issues are included in our platform available on our Manitoba Liberals web site. For mental health they include putting psychological services under medicare to provide a better balance in mental and physical health supports. They include 24/7 access to addictions help. They include a focus on preventing conditions like type 2 diabetes, radon induced lung cancer and lead exposure causing learning and behavioural problems in children.

The second major issue I hear is climate change and the need to act decisively now as we are proposing in our platform on the Manitoba Liberals web site. It is generally considered that the Manitoba Liberals have the most robust approach to climate change.

The third major issue is education. Underfunding has led to large class sizes and reductions in special needs help. This has meant too many children are falling through the cracks. A particular problem is children with learning disabilities not being screened for and identified early and helped adequately. These children can do incredibly well when helped, but if not helped can struggle in school, and drop out and develop mental health and substance abuse issues. It is imperative we do better to help these children.

The fourth major problem is crime. It is in part to address crime that we have put a major emphasis on housing those who are homeless immediately they become homeless (see our platform). When they become homeless most individuals are facing a crisis and critical help at this juncture can enable them to turn their life around. Waiting for individuals to become chronically homeless is not good enough. These individuals then often cluster in camps for those who are homeless and become a reason for property crime to occur.

We are also, in our platform, planning to offer half way houses to those released from provincial correctional institutions. Currently, too many are released back onto the street in a cycle of continuing criminal activity. We can interrupt this cycle and help people to turn their lives around. Lastly, I am personally committed to work with community members in working on local measures to reduce crime in River Heights.

If elected, what will be your first priority?

My first priority will be improving health care in all aspects. This includes

1) Addressing the short term needs to improve the working environment for those in health care, to improve morale, to ensure our current emergency rooms and wards in Winnipeg are fully staffed so that there is no need for mandatory overtime, and that wait times for diagnostic imaging and for surgical procedures are dramatically reduced. Improving quality over is important as health care professionals and the patients they serve all feel better when the work provided is done in a high quality compassionate way.

2) Addressing mental health and addictions issues. For mental health issues, we will cover psychological therapies under medicare so that they are accessible to all, and so that our health care system can offer a better balance in physical and mental health supports. For addictions, this means ensuring that individuals with addictions can get the help they need when they need it. We will ensure there is a staffed twenty four hour, seven days a week hot line to access services and to provide help and advice to physicians and others providing addictions services. We will work with all organizations providing services in the addictions field to move from the current fragmented system to one which is far better integrated so that those in need of services can move seemlessly through the stages of help needed.

3) For Seniors health, we will establish a Seniors Advocate to help improve services, provide adequate funding for personal care homes to have 4.1 hours of direct care per resident per day and ensure that seniors in personal care homes can live in dignity.

4) For children, we will screen at risk children for lead exposure and use a public health approach to reduce lead exposure and mitigate its effects so that affected children can develop normally without behavioural and/or learning difficulties. We will also screen all children for difficulties in reading in pre-school, in kindergarten, in grade 1 and grade 2 so that those who are having difficulty can be helped to read and to succeed. We will also begin a program of newborn screening for cytomegalovirus infection. We will also ensure Manitoba children have a universal nutrition program.

5) We will ensure a major focus on prevention to keep Manitobans healthy. For example, the number of individuals with type 2 diabetes in Manitoba is very high because the NDP and PC governments have never put a major focus on efforts to prevent this condition. The result is very high costs to our health care system and the complications of diabetes happening for far too many.

Who are your role models in politics, and why?

I have had the opportunity to learn first hand from many individuals. First and foremost, in the political realm are former Prime Minister Jean Chretien in whose cabinet I served from 1993 to 1997, and the Hon. Lloyd Axworthy who was a close colleague when we were in cabinet together. We have continued to work together on varied issues in the years since.

My father was an important role model for me. He was a pediatrician and he taught me to listen carefully to people, and to be caring and compassionate when dealing with patients. He was born in Africa and from him I listened to his stories of Africa and learned to be concerned about people from countries around the world. He was in the Second World War and he spoke of the tragedies of war and the sacrifices of many to have the democracy we have. He was also a great fan of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and non-violent approaches to solving problems.

My mother was a historian, a story teller, a writer and an author and from her I learned a love for reading and writing. In her family there were members who were involved in politics and she spoke often of politics and democracy from the perspective of a historian.

My wife Naomi, has been a help and an inspiration since the day we first met in 1970. As an artist and humanitarian I have learned so much from her about love, respect, partnership and about beauty and art. I have also learned much from our children, Pauline, Charles and Tom.

When I was growing up in Saskatoon, I was a member of the Saskatoon Natural History Society (now Nature Saskatchewan), and was greatly influence by Dr. Stuart Houston a radiologist, ornithologist and historian. I joined Stuart Houston on many bird banding expeditions, often climbing trees to band nestling hawks and owls. It was from Stuart that I developed a passion for the environment, a passion which I have taken into politics.

From Professor John Soothill, a clinical scientist under who I studied in London, England, I learned the importance of helping those with dyslexia. He knew what a struggle it was to have dyslexia and how hard he worked to get through medical school. Everything he learned was from listening to lectures because he could only read with great difficulty and textbooks were essentially useless to him. He was on the Board of Admission of Oxford University and he looked carefully for students with dyslexia because he knew the struggles they had been through and believed if they had got far enough to be eligible to enter Oxford they deserved to be admitted.
From Dr. Mark Nesbit in Minneapolis, I learned to look after children with cancer, and that the human side of medicine is as important as the drug therapy.

From Dr. Jim White in Minneapolis, I learned to do research, that it was important to be sure to take time to decide on the question to be asked and how the research was to be done before starting so that the results would provide a useful and meaningful answer.
From Rabbi Alan Green and Shahina Siddiqui I have learned of the importance of dialogue and understanding with respect to those of Jewish and Islamic faiths.

From Andrew Turnell, in Perth Australia, when Naomi and I visited, I learned a great deal about his approach – including the “Signs of Safety” - to helping children and families. I learned that there was a way to help most children and families without having to take the children into the care of child and family services.

From David Clarke in Oxford, England I learned that it is desirable to cover psychological therapies under medicare and that this can make a big difference in the lives of many people.

From Nancy Chippendale, I have learned a great deal about individuals experiencing homelessness, and developed better ideas for housing people immediately when they become homeless rather than waiting till they are chronically homeless before providing help.
From Victoria Romero and Sheva Schwartz, who were students who worked with me during the summer of 2021, I learned a great deal about the harm of radon in Manitoba homes and the need to develop ecological corridors in our province.

Tell us something about yourself that voters might find surprising.

I am involved together with my wife Naomi and others in a long running study of Bald Eagles on Besnard Lake, Saskatchewan. This began in 1967 when there were major concerns about the impact of DDT on Bald Eagles and other raptors. We have attracted many to join this effort over the years. One who came was Gary Bortolotti.

Together Gary and I wrote the book “The Bald Eagle: Haunts and Habits of a Wilderness Monarch” which was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press. An interesting aspect of this was that the book on the Bald Eagle, the national bird of the United States and published by the Smithsonian Institution Press was written by two Canadians. We continue to be involved in this study 57 years after it began, and each year I still climb trees to band young eagles.

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