With the high cost of living showing no sign of easing up and the province projecting a deficit of $1.6 billion, Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson (Progressive Conservative) is advising his constituents to hold on to their wallets in 2026.
Johnson weighed in on a number of issues affecting Interlakers such as financial strain, health care and crime as 2025 came to a close, and he also celebrated achievements in the rural communities he has represented since he was first elected MLA in 2016.
Johnson said the government’s deficit is “double of what they thought they were going to have” and taxpayers will be on the hook for paying it off.
The government had initially projected a $794-million deficit in its spring budget, but that was before it had to spend hundreds of millions of dollars fighting raging wildfires throughout the province. Despite the deficit projection, Finance Minister Adrien Sala said in December that “this is not a time to cut programs or to look at making significant changes that might further risk a slowdown in the economy.”
Johnson said Manitobans probably experience “temporary euphoria” when the government is spending money, but the only way to deal with the projected deficit would be to increase taxes. And Manitobans will also be on the hook for interest.
“The government has to pay interest on our provincial debt. It’s like having a Visa bill. The interest on $1.6 billion is $6.3 million per day. The only way to get this under control is to increase taxes,” said Johnson. “Hold on to your wallets because this has to get paid for. There’s only one taxpayer and that’s the people of Manitoba.”
Johnson said increased taxation could come in the form of a PST rise, less investment in education or by borrowing.
“This all ties into affordability,” he said. “Some of the major concerns of those in Interlake-Gimli are the rising cost of food, fuel, utilities and housing, and personal interest rates are higher than they were five years. With increased property taxes, seniors are finding it harder and harder to stay in their homes.”
To help protect property owners from costly civil litigation that could potentially arise from criminal trespass or a break and enter, Johnson sponsored a private member’s bill in November — Bill 210, The Criminal Trespassers Act and Amendments to the Occupiers’ Liability Act — that prevents an occupier(s) of premises from facing a lawsuit should a person aged 12 or older suffer an injury or death while trespassing for the purpose of committing a crime.
“Bill 210 protects property owners from civil liability. If someone comes on your property with the intention of committing a crime, they can sue you if they get hurt,” said Johnson. “For example, if someone trying to break into your home smashes a window and slices their arm open, they can sue you in civil court even though they’re intending to break into your property.”
Johnson said he had brought the same bill forward during the last legislative session but the government failed to pass it. He originally introduced the bill after learning of a situation in which a homeowner’s dogs bit an intruder that was breaking in and the owner was later successfully sued.
“This is near and dear to our hearts in rural Manitoba. If somebody drives their vehicle through your field with an intent to poach or [other criminal intent] and they hit an old piece of farm equipment that’s been parked out in the field since your grandfather’s time, they can sue you,” he said.
There’s a clause in the proposed legislation that prohibits property owners from laying booby traps.
On the health-care front, specifically emergency services, Johnson said riding constituents he’s spoken with said things have “gotten worse” over the past few years.
Manitobans continue to experience long wait times for access to emergency health care, including in the Interlake, he said, before offering a somewhat wry comment about ER availability at many hospitals in the Interlake-Eastern health region.
“You can only have a wait time if hospitals are open,” he said. “I’m excited as the next person that the Eriksdale emergency room is getting a $8.6-million makeover. But not once in any of [the government’s] news releases have they mentioned more staff. And that’s what the ER needs. [The upgrade] will make the ER more efficient. But it will only be more efficient when it’s open. Right now, it’s only open one day a week … that’s obviously because of staffing issues.”
When the Manitoba PCs were in power, Johnson said they focused on shoring up human resources by doubling nursing training seats to prevent nurse burnout through overtime, hiring more nurses and launching a plan to add 2,000 health-care providers [through the Health Human Resources Action Plan], including health professionals from overseas.
The present government, he said, has not made strides on improving the situation on the nursing front , with Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson having tweeted in December that it’s the “same shift, different day.”
Hospitals across Canada are facing staffing challenges, and Manitoba is no different from the rest of the country. In mid-January, the Manitoba government addressed the high cost of using private nurse staffing agencies by reducing agency numbers from around 80 to four. But it had to extend some of those private contracts a week later as rural hospitals such as Swan River and Dauphin weren’t able to find enough nurses to fill shifts.
Johnson led the charge last year to address faulty 911 service in parts of the Interlake after the family of an RM of Fisher man was unable to reach an operator despite repeated calls. The 55-year-old man (Dean Switzer) later died. Johnson subsequently pressed the government to launch a public inquiry.
“That’s one of the hardest things to go through … as an elected official because you feel responsible when someone makes a 911 call and the system isn’t there for them. That was one of my challenges [in 2025] after that system failed. I’m continuing to push for a public inquiry. It won’t bring Dean back as he passed away, but his dad, Ray, told me they don’t want it to happen to somebody else. We have to find out what went wrong with the system and that’s through a public inquiry. Then you’ll have a path forward and a plan to fix it. If you don’t know what’s broken, you don’t know what to fix.”
Johnson lauded the Town of Arborg for its vision to offer health-care training to rural people in a bid to help the Interlake-Eastern RHA recruit and retain workers.
Arborg built a training facility, the Central Interlake Training Facility, and teamed up with Fieldstone Ventures and Assiniboine Community College to offer two licensed practical nursing programs and health-care aide training. Most of the graduates have remained working in the region.
“I think we have to give recognition to the Town of Arborg for their homegrown solution to health-care staffing shortages,” he said. “They’ve educated people from the local community. If you offer training in your own community, the chances of graduates leaving are slim.”
The PCs and the current NDP government have promised to build a new personal care home in Arborg, and Johnson said he’s “keeping the pressure on” to ensure the project goes forward.
He said he’s also keeping his eye on Arborg’s Riverdale Place Workshop, which provides employment and other services to people with intellectual disabilities, as the government proposed to shut it down last year and transfer participants to another program.
Despite some of the pressing issues in the constituency, Johnson said Interlakers never fail to impress him through their show of solidarity and community-mindedness.
“It’s so nice to see strong community participation at events across the Interlake whether it’s at Islendingadagurinn or [Eriksdale’s] Creamery Days or the Gimli International Film Festival or all the Canada Day celebrations. It warms your heart to see so many volunteers put together so many successful events across the Interlake,” he said. “I’ve been MLA for almost 10 years and I can see the next generation of volunteers coming along.”
