MANITOBA VOTES 2023 – SPRINGFIELD-RITCHOT: Liberal candidate against Sio Silica, for LGBTQ rights

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This article was published 27/09/2023 (919 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Trevor Kirczenow is running in the riding of Springfield-Ritchot and he sees Sio Silca and LGBTQ rights as important issues that need to be highlighted going into the election.

Kirczenow is a father of two and lives with his husband in Dugald where they’ve made their family home for the past 10 years. The classically trained violinist works for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and owns a small farm which he raises Ojibway horses, turkeys, goats, and chickens.

The Surrey, British Columbia native has published papers on transgender parents, lactation, and chest feeding. He has also done work in health care research specifically around equity and inclusion and transgendered people receiving reproductive health care. He has worked with all three parties in the province to deliver coverage for diabetes patients who need continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps.

Kirczenow has a bachelor of political science honours degree from the University of British Columbia. He ran in the previous two federal elections for the Liberal Party in Provencher, coming in second both times. He is the first openly transgender candidate to have been nominated by a major Canadian political party for a federal election.

Under his married last name of MacDonald, Kirczenow has written for The Guardian, The Advocate, the Huffington Post, Out Magazine and This Magazine.

He’s running in this election because he believes that the Sio Silica project in Springfield should not go forward because the risks to drinking water are too high.

“I haven’t really heard the other candidates in this area be very clear where they stand with the project. I’m personally opposed to it. I’m not convinced that this unique extraction method is safe and I think it’s better to err on the side of caution because water is so incredibly important.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure on politicians to approve the project because of the promise of money and jobs. But I don’t think we should be swayed by those things because if we don’t have clean water we’ve got nothing. We really have to protect our water. I think there were a lot of concerns raised at the Clean Environment Commission hearing and I share those concerns.”

The Sio Silica project is a multi-million dollar investment in the RM of Springfield to mine silica sand from an aquifer. The aquifer delivers water to more than 100,000 people in the southeast. Silica sand is used to make solar panels, batteries, and other new technologies.

In regards to climate change, he would like to see more support for a transition to a cleaner economy.

“In terms of supporting families to be able to purchase electric vehicles, to be able to install solar panels, things like that, I think we could provide a lot more incentive to make it easier to make choices like that.”

Kirczenow is also running because he believes health and education both need to be priorities. He said the cuts and restructuring in those areas in recent years hasn’t gone well.

In health care he would like to see more training of doctors and nurses and to incentivize them to stay in the medical field by providing bonuses. He also said there needs to be more staffing in seniors homes and an independent seniors advocate needs to be set up. He also thinks the Pharmacare deductible is too high.

“Right now, as much as we have fought for coverage for certain drugs and items that people need to support their health like insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, I was a part of a campaign to improve coverage of those things. As much as we’ve fought to get those covered, it really doesn’t help if your pharmacare deductible is so high that you still pay for everything out of pocket anyway. I think that’s something that we really need to look at. I suspect it’s worse in Manitoba than in other provinces.”

In regards to fiscal responsibility, Kirczenow would like to see taxes go down for everyone, but the “very most wealthy 0.1 percent of Manitobans.”

“I think we can make our system more fair without causing economic problems.”

In education, Kirczenow believes there are staffing issues that schools are facing right now. He thinks there needs to be more hiring of teachers and they need better supports and better pay. He also finds cuts to libraries, band programs, the arts and sports in schools as detrimental.

“I’ve been really sad that we’ve seen programs like that suffer. I think we need to restore them.”

A way to modernize the education system for Kirczenow is to make sure it is inclusive and diverse.

“I am a transgender person myself and I understand the struggles that LGBTQ youth go through. I think schools need to be a safe place for those kids.”

Recently, the 1 Million March 4 Children in Steinbach caught the attention of Kirczenow. The movement identifies its goals as “advocating for the elimination of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum, pronouns, gender ideology and mixed bathrooms in schools.”

The most common sign held up by supporters read “protect parental rights,” a vaguely defined platform promise of the PC party heading into the Oct. 3 election.

“Ron Schuler was there in Steinbach…I’m really disappointed that he attended that event. I think that by doing that he was supporting spreading misinformation about the LGBTQS2 community and about Manitoba teachers and the Manitoba school curriculum and I find that really frustrating and disappointing that he would attend. I attended the march in support of trans youth yesterday at the Winnipeg legislature and attendance there was amazing. I was grateful to see that,” said Kirczenow.

Kirczenow believes political leaders should speak up and support minority groups, including LGBTQ youth.

“This is a serious issue. It is life and death for some of these youth. We know that when kids have a safe person to talk to and they have safe spaces at school these things are protective against depression and suicidality. I think we need to keep the inclusion and diversity we have built into the Manitoba curriculum and the Manitoba school system and politicians should be clear about supporting that,” he added.

At the time, Schuler said he was there to support parents and their rights.

“It sounds really nice on the face of it, but when you look a little bit deeper into some of the other things that these folks are saying and legislation that has been passed by conservatives in other provinces like Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, it’s not so simple as that…So, when I was a kid, I was exactly the kind of kid that would have been targeted by this legislation. I am openly transgender and when I was a teenager the first person I told was one of my close friends and then a lot later I told a teacher and I asked that teacher not to tell my parents because I didn’t feel safe to do that. My aunt actually advised me not to tell my parents until I was financially independent and living on my own. And I followed her advice.

“I think if at that time there’d been a rule saying my teacher had to inform my parents, I think I wouldn’t have told anybody for a much longer time. I think my mental health would have suffered a lot more.”

Although the Manitoba PC platform doesn’t say anything about gender identity when it comes to parental rights, Kirczenow said when Stefanson was asked by a reporter at a news conference if when she talks about parental rights it includes gender identity and pronouns she said, “Yes.”

“I feel like when someone like Ron Schuler mentions parental rights and leaves it at that he makes it sound really nice, but there’s a lot that he’s leaving out. It’s sneaky. As a trans person I feel offended by it and I feel offended by his presence at that march.”

So, why vote for Kirczenow? He said he’s a strong voice.

“I will be a strong voice for the citizens in this area. I have been already in regards to diabetes coverage and I think I could do a lot of good if I were elected.”