Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson said he has his work cut out for him in 2025 after seeing government cuts to programs that were beneficial to Interlakers, increased taxes, relatively little movement on health-care system improvements in the rural area, and threats to the Interlake economy should U.S. president Donald Trump follow through on his promise this week to implement a sweeping 25 per cent tariff on Canadian exports to America.
Although there are pockets of improvement in some parts of the Interlake-Gimli riding that are cause for celebration, Johnson said there have been more disappointments as of late.
“The Building Sustainable Communities and the Green Team grant programs were cut substantially in the last couple of years. In the Interlake, we’ve had reduced funding by 71 per cent compared to what it was historically,” he said. “Collectively, we lobbied the provincial government after they cut $4 million – and that affected Interlake-Gimli the most – and pressured them to increase it back up to an additional $300,000. That’s kind of bittersweet. Do you take that as a win or a loss?”
The Building Sustainable Communities grant program provided funding for capital projects and community development projects by local governments and non-profit organizations.
On the health-care front, Johnson said he’ll continue lobbying for the new personal care home for Arborg that has seen “zero action and engagement with the Arborg Seniors Housing Committee” thus far. The Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority has the “lowest number of personal care home beds in the province. And after the Lac du Bonnet PCH is built, the worst area will be the northern Interlake.
He’ll also be lobbying the government to fulfil its election promise to build a new emergency room for the Eriksdale hospital.
“I’m lobbying the NDP government with regard to the [health-care] commitments it made such as the new emergency room for Eriksdale,” he said. “And I realize that an overhaul of the emergency room isn’t going to create the necessary human resources. You need to have staff.”
There have been some improvements on the nursing front in the Interlake region such as the successful graduation of almost 40 nurses from an LPN training program that was offered in Arborg, he said, and that has resulted in an increase of LPNs working in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority and other Interlake areas.
“There are some nurses working at Percy Moore [federal hospital] and Lake Manitoba First Nation, which is in the Interlake region, and that LPN training program has been a huge success. But we do need to continue on with initiatives like that,” said Johnson. “When we educate people who’ve grown up in the Interlake, they’re more likely to spend their whole career in health-care in Interlake-Gimli.”
Interlake hospital emergency rooms – some of which have been completely shuttered and others offering reduced hours or periodic closures – have seen “absolutely no improvement whatsoever” since the NDP came to power, he said. And average wait times for diagnostic procedures have yet to improve.
But there’s light at the end of the tunnel for some communities such as Lundar where a “homegrown” doctor will be setting up her practice, potentially attracting other doctors and might be willing to cover ER shifts in Eriksdale, and in Gimli where a doctor is in the process of building a new clinic.
When you have a doctor that sets up a practice in a community, there’s the potential of getting coverage for your hospital emergency room if they’re willing to be on call. That could help keep emergency rooms open for more hours than they currently are,” said Johnson. “I’m excited to see doctors coming back to their home communities and putting down roots.”
Currently, the Arborg hospital’s ER is permanently closed as is Teulon’s. Eriksdale’s ER is open on average only six to eight days a month. Other hospital ERs such as Ashern, Gimli and Stonewall periodically have to close for a day or two or can offer only half day (or night) services at times.
Another important area Johnson wants to focus on is tackling crime in the Interlake and investing in programs for rural areas.
“Crime is pretty much top of mind for most Manitobans and Interlake-Gimli is no exception to that; rural residents continue to be violated. We’re [provincial Conservatives] going to keep working to support Manitobans by holding the government accountable and ensuring there’s a long-term plan from the premier [Wab Kinew], who said he was going to do bail reform, which hasn’t happened. We need to keep pushing the government to continue on a path of safety for Manitobans,” he said. “They’ve invested in a couple things only for the City of Winnipeg such as a handful of ankle monitoring bracelets … but they haven’t done it for rural Manitoba. “ …. We have to keep pushing the government to ensure these mechanisms are put in place and invest in new technology.”
The government had announced a five-point plan in February 2024 to crack down on repeat offenders. It includes assessing the need for detention, additional officers for the Winnipeg Police Service that would be focused on arresting repeat offenders, and enhanced community monitoring and supervision of offenders.
Other goals Johnson said he’s working on for 2025 include seeing affordable provincial tax breaks within a balanced budget – not while there’s an almost $2 million budget deficit. When the Conservatives left office in 2023, they had “handed the NDP a $373-million surplus during our last year in government.”
“The government is borrowing money to give tax breaks like they did for the gas-tax holiday. At the beginning of this year, we experienced a large gas-tax hike; they only gave a 10 per cent reduction from what it was a year ago,” he said. “Look at the pump prices and tell me if that’s making a difference. The gas tax affects rural Manitobans far more than it does to people in Winnipeg, especially people on the lower socio-economic scale.”
The government reduced the fuel tax to 12.5 cents a litre on Jan 1, 2025 (a 10 per cent reduction), after a year-long gas-tax holiday. Prior to 2024, the tax was 14 cents a litre.
Drainage in the Interlake-Gimli riding is also a priority for Johnson, who said “all the provincial third-order drains” need to be repaired and cleaned. Upgrades to highways in various areas of the Interlake also need attention.
“You name any municipality in my constituency and there are drain improvements that need doing,” he said. “When you have so much precipitation that leads to overland flooding events, like the one we had in 2022, it can affect areas from Armstrong to Coldwell to Grahamdale to Fisher and across to municipalities along Lake Winnipeg.”
With regard to the Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin flood channels that the previous Conservative government had set aside money for each year, Johnson said the NDP government has so far budgeted zero for the channels. Last year the government announced a pause on the channels then committed to moving forward on them in a throne speech.
“We’ll find out in April when the NDP releases their budget whether they’re actually budgeting money towards it. We as a PC government budgeted $100 million each and every year for that channel in anticipation of moving forward,” said Johnson. “They [NDP] budgeted zero last year. If they budget zero again this year, they have zero intention of moving it forward. They haven’t budgeted anything for the channels since taking government.”
The United States is Manitoba’s top agri-food trade partner accounting for 46 per cent of Manitoba’s total agri-food exports and 86 per cent of Manitoba’s total agri-food imports from 2013-2023, according to a fact sheet on the Manitoba government’s website. The top five destinations in 2023 for Manitoba agri-food exports were Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, California and Indiana.
Johnson said a possible Trump tariff of 25 per cent could hurt not only Manitoba’s agriculture sector – especially beef and pork exports – but also manufacturing in the area around Arborg and in Bifrost-Riverton.
“If that 25 per cent tariff is brought in, it will affect our agriculture industry and have ripple effects on the wider economy. When producers are making good money, they’ll buy new equipment like a tractor and pick-up trucks or repair a fence with wood they buy from a local Co-op and so forth. In the Interlake, more so than anywhere else, there’s a seven-fold effect on the economy,” he said.
Building cross-border relationships is key to navigating what could be tough economic times ahead, he said, as well as shoring up our border – which have benefits for both America and Canada.
But if push comes to shove with regard to Trump tariffs, the government could consider looking at Manitoba Hydro’s cheap “one-and-a-half cents per kilowatt hour” electricity exports to American states.
“In the end, the only people that will be hurt by this [25 per cent tariff] are consumers and producers,” said Johnson.
On the subject of democratic freedoms, Trump’s known disdain for liberal media and his endorsement of social media messaging, Johnson said we should be paying more attention to supporting the media, and especially media in the rural areas of Manitoba.
“People have to look at where they get their media from and assess the accuracy of it. The younger generation don’t typically read the paper: they use TikTok,” said Johnson. “The Interlake still remains engaged with written print because our average age is higher. The importance of written media in the Interlake is very, very high. And it’s very important to support local media and ensure it’s there for the people that use it.”
The Express reached out to the province for more information about crime prevention in the Interlake.
A spokesperson from the justice department said the province is committed to working with federal, provincial and territorial partners to share criminal justice system data, which will help police analyze trends and initiate further reforms. And electronic monitoring has been expanded to rural Manitoba.
“The department continues to build capacity in the Business Intelligence Unit, a team of dedicated data specialists providing statistical and data solutions across the department and is also continuing its implementation of the Integrated Case Management System to support the work of Manitoba’s three levels of court,” said the spokesperson. “The province has invested $2.9 million over two years for electronic monitoring in Manitoba. As part of this bail reform plan, more than $500,000 has been allocated to the enhanced Community Monitoring and Supervision Program, which provides intensive supervision and expanded supports to chronic offenders. Electronic monitoring was introduced in Winnipeg in August 2024 and has since expanded its focus to rural Manitoba and also for intimate partner violence offences. Forty-seven individuals across Manitoba are currently being monitored on electronic monitoring.”
The Express also reached out to the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, asking for an update on construction of the new ER for Eriksdale and whether there’s a human resources staffing plan that will be part and parcel of the new ER.
An IERHA representative said: “Interlake-Eastern RHA is excited to have the opportunity to help optimize patient experience and patient flow in the Eriksdale hospital emergency department. Work continues with the province to develop designs for the Eriksdale ED. More details will be shared as the project plan continues to develop. This is a truly exciting opportunity to do better together.”
