Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 30, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A2 A 2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM VOL 149 NO 322 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2020 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 Publisher / BOB COX Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an in- dependent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please send them to: editorialconcerns@freepress.mb.ca. 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INSIDE Arts and Life C1 Classifieds D8 Comics C5 Diversions C6,7 Horoscope C4 Jumble C6 Miss Lonelyhearts C4 Business B5 Obituaries D7 Opinion A6,7 Sports D1 Television C4 Weather B8 COLUMNISTS: Shelley Cook B1 Doug Speirs C2 Mike McIntyre D1 READER SERVICE ● GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada CIRCULATION INQUIRIES MISSING OR INCOMPLETE PAPER? Call or email before 10 a.m. weekdays or 11 a.m. Saturday City: 204-697-7001 Outside Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 press 1 6:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 DEBATE ● FROM A1 LAWYERS ● FROM A1 BUDGET ● FROM A1 Last fiscal year, government rev- enues were $616 million higher than budgeted, and expenses were $207 million higher than anticipated. Total strategic infrastructure spending in 2019-20 amounted to $1.4 billion, $404 million less than budgeted. The underspending included $51 million on housing infrastructure and $74 million on health-care capital projects. Total Health Department spending last year increased by $303 million to $6.8 billion, compared with the previ- ous year. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca “So that part has been great, but not everyone will want to be that candid,” Wiebe said. Wiebe said she is in discussions with provincial court Chief Judge Mar- garet Wiebe (no relation) to see what can be done to better inform lawyers and other court staff who may have been exposed to the virus, while still respecting the privacy rights of the person diagnosed with the virus. “The CDLAM is hoping to get con- sensus among its members about who they should notify and what informa- tion we hope they will willingly pro- vide… even general notifications about a day when the person might have attended the courthouse, for example,” Wiebe said. “The more specific the information, the better, but obviously the more specific it gets, the more it tends to identify the person, so we’re working to try to develop a way of informing people, while respecting the privacy of the people affected.” Public health officials work to identify anyone who may have been exposed to the virus within 24 hours of a confirmed diagnosis, a Manitoba Jus- tice spokesperson told the Free Press in an email. “Anyone identified as a close contact will be contacted by public health of- ficials and provided instructions for self-isolation (quarantine) and/or test- ing,” the spokesperson said. In a notice to the profession posted online Monday, the province’s three top judges said the “well-established Manitoba Health protocol” will be fol- lowed when a justice system member is diagnosed with the virus, with direct contacts notified and alerted to the need to be tested. “It should be understood that the Manitoba Courts cannot and will not be notifying members of the profes- sion each time a positive COVID-19 diagnosis has taken place in respect of a member of the profession who at- tends court. “Where such a diagnosis has oc- curred, the judge (or judges) and any court staff… in which the counsel in question has appeared, will be noti- fied,” the judges said. To date, no positive cases have been identified in provincial jails or Stony Mountain penitentiary. Jail visits between lawyers and in-custody clients were suspended early in the pandemic, but have since been reinstated, with all parties wearing face masks and separated by plexiglass. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca Biden told Trump to “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap” and go in his golf cart to the Oval Of- fice to come up with a bipartisan plan to save people. Trump snarled a response, declaring that “I’ll tell you Joe, you could never have done the job that we did. You don’t have it in your blood.” “I know how to do the job,” was the solemn response from Biden, who served eight years as Barack Obama’s vice-president. The pandemic’s effects were in plain sight, with the candidates’ lecterns spaced far apart, all of the guests in the small crowd tested and the tradi- tional opening handshake scrapped. The men did not shake hands and, while neither candidate wore a mask to take the stage, their families did sport face coverings. Trump struggled to define his ideas for replacing the Affordable Care Act on health care in the debate’s early moments and defended his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, declaring that “I was not elected for three years, I’m elected for four years.” “We won the election. Elections have consequences. We have the Senate. We have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee, respected by all.” Trump criticized Biden over the former vice-president’s refusal to comment on whether he would try to expand the Supreme Court in retalia- tion if Barrett is confirmed to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The president also refused anew to embrace the science of climate change. As the conversation moved to race, Biden accused Trump of walking away from the American promise of equity for all and making a race-based appeal. “This is a president who has used everything as a dog whistle to try to generate racist hatred, racist division,” Biden said. Recent months have seen major pro- tests after the deaths of Black people at the hands of police. And Biden said there is systemic racist injustice in this country and while the vast majority of police officers are “decent, honour- able men and women” there are “bad apples” and people have to be held accountable. With 35 days until the election, and early voting already underway in some states, Biden stepped onto the stage holding leads in the polls — significant in national surveys, close in some battleground states — and looking to expand his support among suburban voters, women and seniors. Surveys show the president has lost significant ground among those groups since 2016. — The Associated Press MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister is in a smiling mood as he discusses his government’s fiscal record on Tuesday. MANITOBA Premier Brian Pallister took time to celebrate accomplishing one of his major political goals Tues- day, while fending off questions about his future. The government announced it had balanced the province’s budget last year, for the first time since 2009, post- ing a surplus of $5 million. Placing the province on a more solid fiscal footing has been a key objective of the 66-year-old Pallister since he be- came premier in 2016. Asked if he would run in the next election, Pallister would not tip his hand. “My intention is going to be shared with you when I decide to say some- thing about that. My intention right now is to continue staying focused with (Finance Minister) Scott (Fielding) and others on our team, our cabinet, our caucus, to make sure that Manitoba leads the way in getting back on its feet after this COVID challenge is over. And more than that, that we continue to grow our province — as we’ve done here,” he said. Asked if he might make an announce- ment next spring, the premier said: “It might be the spring, summer, it could be the fall, and it might be the winter. It might be 2029, it might be 2036. I mean, I’m half the age of (U.S. presidential nominees) Joe Biden (77) and Donald Trump (74). So I have all the energy in the world to focus on helping rebuild our province. And I’ll stay focused on that.” While the province also released Tuesday its latest estimates of revenues and expenditures for the current fiscal year — and the possibility of a $2.9-bil- lion deficit — Pallister emphasized the success of balancing last year’s budget in his remarks to reporters, calling it “historic news.” “Today, we celebrate the accomplish- ment of balancing the budget. We did it. And we did it with discipline and we did it with compassion. We didn’t do it with reducing services. We did it by growing the economy,” he said. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Premier revels in reaching goal, coy about future LARRY KUSCH ● MORE COVERAGE ON NEXT PAGE JULIO CORTEZ / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden duke it out. A_02_Sep-30-20_FP_01.indd A2 2020-09-29 10:51 PM ;