Morden-Winkler MLA Carrie Hiebert closed out 2025 with a Christmas open house last Tuesday at Bella’s Castle in Morden.
Hiebert saw it as a good opportunity to not only have dialogue with local residents but also just to celebrate the communities she represents in the Manitoba Legislature.
“It’s also to be here so I’m accessible to anybody who wants to stop in and just have a chat about any concerns,” she said. “My door is always open … and I’m always going to try my best if I can to meet with people or have a phone call.”
Hiebert reflected briefly on the past year of representing Morden and Winkler in government.
“It’s been a really good year in a lot of ways,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of opportunity to advocate for projects and desperate needs in our communities.”
She cited a number of examples ranging from supporting a transitional housing project to helping facilitate meetings with provincial cabinet ministers.
“There’s been a lot of really great opportunities for me this year to really represent Morden and Winkler in a lot of ways,” she said. “It makes this job really worthwhile to me because that’s my goal, to advocate for my communities here and do the best I can for our families and loved ones and our communities and our province.”
Hiebert welcomed having had the opportunity to be involved in bringing forward some legislation, including Bill 228, which in part aimed to help reduce red tape for farmers, as well as the Christian Heritage Month Act.
“That’s something that is really important for our area. I’ve gotten a lot of emails from people who really wanted it,” she said. “I think it’s important for us to acknowledge December as a really important part of the Christian faith.”
Hiebert acknowledged she would love to have the opportunity to be on the government side of the Legislature, but serving as the Official Opposition is equally important.
“Being in Opposition, my biggest role right now is to make sure that I hold the government accountable, to make sure that they do the things that they need to do for my constituents and those constituents across the province who need to be served and represented,” she said.
“We need to make sure we do better … and there’s so many areas where we’re really struggling in our province.
“One of the big ones you see is the huge deficit that we have that the current NDP government has brought forward,” she said. “Manitoba is getting the third highest transfer of funds from the federal government, and that should not be something that should be happening.”
Hiebert wants to see the province be able to continue to grow “but we’re not. We’re falling behind.”
And another overriding issue is affordability for Manitobans.
“We need to make sure that we have food on the table for those people who need it. Food banks are really being pushed to the limit, and we need to do more for our communities and constituents who don’t have the funds to afford food for their families,” she said. “We need to address that stuff, and we’re not doing enough.”
She also cited the need to support industry and business in the region.
“It’s been a hard year for a lot of manufacturers. I’m going to keep on that … we need more done, more government leadership on that.”
