Smook surveys legislative session

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This article was published 03/10/2018 (2028 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Spring leftovers will be reheated and served up for debate during this fall’s legislative session, and La Verendrye MLA Dennis Smook says passing the budget implementation bill will be first on the agenda.

The third session of the 41st legislature resumed yesterday and will run until Nov. 20, when a fourth session will begin.

Bills held over from a prolonged, and at times acrimonious, spring session will be addressed first, starting with the government’s budget implementation bill. Smook said its details were released to Opposition MLAs in August.

“We do need to pass the budget,” he said.

The Red Tape Reduction and Government Efficiency Act, which contains the government’s ongoing efforts at regulatory reform, will also continue its march through the legislature, Smook said.

Meanwhile, a much more controversial bill, the Wildlife Amendment Act, will likely be the subject of intense debate.

“Night hunting is one of the key issues in it,” Smook explained.

While some Metis and First Nations groups have objected to aspects of the bill, Smook framed the government’s stance on night hunting as a safety measure.

Constituents in his expansive rural riding have reported “bullets going through their yards,” he said.

“It’s all about the safety of Manitobans.”

Smook won’t bring forward any private member’s bills, and said the public will have to tune in to next month’s throne speech to find out where the PC caucus will focus its legislative energies through the winter.

But he said rural residents of the Southeast can look forward to FleetNet upgrades.

In August, Premier Brian Pallister announced Bell MTS will replace the province’s obsolete analog emergency communications network with a “digital two-way mobile radio system” with GPS capabilities for tracking the paramedics, police officers, firefighters, and conservation officers who rely on the network during high-pressure situations.

The upgrades are expected to be phased in over the next three years at a total cost of $380 million.

Smook called the plan “fantastic for safety.”