Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 7, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A4 A 4 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2020 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMNEWS I MANITOBA #FindyourBeCause | 204.944.9474 “Because building an inclusive community means people with a vision impairment have equal opportunities to live life to its fullest.” Doris Koop, Vision Impaired Resources Network FindyourBeCause.org Join together with other caring Winnipeggers. Give to your favourite Cause through The Foundation and make Winnipeg better by helping local charities. ABOVE THE FOLD News, features and analysis from Manitoba’s most trusted newsroom. Weeknights at 7pm Visit winnipegfreepress.com THE Manitoba government will re- introduce legislation seeking to strengthen rules and accountability for ministers and MLAs. It will also expand the role and au- thority of the ethics commissioner to enforce those rules, Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced Tuesday. “Manitoba’s conflict of interest rules are among the weakest in Canada, and this legislation would update the rules and create a new ethics commission- er with expanded powers to enforce them,” said Cullen. “The current rules are outdated and inadequate; we want to streamline them and bring our eth- ical standards in line with other juris- dictions.” The proposed legislation recognizes there may be conflict when a MLA or minister has the opportunity to put their interests before the public’s. It would also detail specific rules for: gifts and personal benefits that a mem- ber accepts; private air travel; sporting and cultural event tickets belonging to the government; and business dealings between a member and the govern- ment. It also states former members must not use information they received while in office to further private or family interests. “We believe this legislation finds a balance. A balance between disclosure, the potential con- flicts of interest, while ensuring not to impede anyone who wants to run for office,” said Cullen. “Our government was elected to improve transparency and accountability and this legislation will help achieve that.” Meanwhile, the Municipal Statues Amendment Act will also be reintro- duced, Municipal Relations Minister Rochelle Squires announced. “This bill strengthens provisions re- lated to local elections and creates a level playing field for incumbents and all other candidates,” Squires said Tues- day. “It will strengthen the integrity of our municipal elections in ensuring in- cumbents are not using their position, or tax payer resources to influence the outcome of an election.” Cullen said both pieces of legisla- tion are part of the government’s com- mitment to hold all elected officials in Manitoba to the highest standard of ethics and accountability. kellen.taniguchi@freepress.mb.ca Tories seek to update conflict of interest rules T O say I took more than a passing interest in Manitoba’s daily COVID-19 report on Sunday would be a gigantic under- statement. Thirty-six new members of the pan- demic club were revealed that day — I was one of them. After receiving what has since been identified as a false-negative result precisely a week earlier, a second test last Wednesday, deemed necessary after the onset of a medley of miser- able symptoms, came back positive. News of the diagnosis from a public health nurse Sunday morning literally doubled me over, despite only minutes before feeling like I was back to about 75 per cent after being felled by a “bug” for the better part of four days. The soft, compassionate voice on the other end of the phone asked me to repeat back to her what I’d just been told, and I did. Then, she apologized for having to be the bearer of bad news, explained that another nurse would call to begin contact tracing (alerting people I might have exposed to the coronavirus) and ex- pressed remorse one final time about my illness. Hanging up, I yelled up to my wife, Allyson, and shared the startling infor- mation. Since our second nasal swab Sept. 30, she’s been living with the dog on the main floor, while I’ve been rel- egated to the finished basement. I get my meals delivered to the top of the stairs and sit on the deck alone a few times a day. On Monday, Allyson was advised she, too, is positive, as was our strong suspicion. She continues to experience a burning sensation in her sinuses, a loss of her sense of smell and has been uncharacteristically lethargic. We’ve quarantined from the rest of the world, including our two grown children and our aging parents, since that first test Sept. 24 — split between our cabin in the woods in eastern Man- itoba and our home in East Kildonan — and will continue living in isolation until the Thanksgiving weekend. Once our quarantine period is over and we rejoin civilization, we’ll con- tinue to mask in public as we’ve done since early in the summer. I would describe my physical fitness level as low and my current appear- ance as Trump-like (look what hap- pened to him!), but with better hair. And I’m bald. At the worst of it last week, I had a persistent, hacking cough, extreme body aches, sinus congestion and a slight fever. Strong and resilient, Allyson eluded the symptoms that had bulldozed me, leaving me incapable of suffering in silence as anyone of the male species will surely understand. Thankfully, she is the far superior physical specimen. When we bike together, for instance, I usually release her from the shackles of my plodding pace after 15 minutes and she bursts ahead, completes the duration of the trek and then rejoins me for what I ensure is a leisurely ride home. Our first COVID-19 test was admin- istered at the Pine Falls drive-thru site. We were the second vehicle in line and received service with a smile — a long Q-tip poked deep into our nasal cavities — before being waved on our way. The second “brain tickler” was done at the Selkirk drive-thru site after three frustrating hours in a lineup of vehicles along the shoulder. Days later, the aggravation of two- hour wait times during a couple of calls to Manitoba Health Links for results was all but forgotten once the word “positive” went in one ear and took root without moving to the other. There’s no need to go into the details of how the virus was contracted, other than to say it was a combination of a rare lapse in judgment and some bad luck amid the very best of intentions. Basically, a long-overdue Sunday sup- per with close friends in late Septem- ber came with a regrettable side dish. There will come a time when we will all laugh about it. But we’re not there, yet. After getting my results, I went on Twitter and looked at the day’s num- bers, including the sombre addition of one death to the provincial count, raising it to 23. The man from the Win- nipeg area was in his 50s. As determined as I am to ignore my advancing age, that pesky driver’s licence in my wallet substantiates the fact a 55th birthday is just around the corner. Chronically aching knees, the ease with which I nod off in front of the TV most evenings and a startling abundance of hair sprouting from my ears reinforce what I know to be true. That man’s passing was certainly no more or less tragic than the other lives lost to this invisible enemy. But learning about it on the very day of my own revelation caused a visceral response, a mixture of deep sadness, unnerving fear, immense gratitude (neither my parents nor my kids were compromised) and a resolve to adopt a healthier lifestyle. I, like my Free Press co-workers, have been writing about coronavirus for months, in my case sharing stories of athletes whose lives have been dis- rupted during the pandemic. Olympic dreams postponed, championships cancelled, entire seasons erased. Most memorably, I spoke with two NHLers, Ottawa Senators forward and Roblin product Jayce Hawryluk (a one-on-one interview) and Winnipeg defenceman Anthony Bitetto (media availability during the Jets’ pre-playoff training camp) about their seemingly inconceivable diagnoses. Both fellows mentioned the jarring impact of being stricken with the same virus — albeit in its tempered form — that continues to claim thousands of lives each day around the world. A sobering sentiment, indeed, but one I now understand. jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPJasonBell No longer writing it, reporter is living it JASON BELL KELLEN TANIGUCHI IF the provincial government truly wants to aid the post-pandemic recov- ery, help Manitobans get back to work and invest in the future, it should start by getting rid of “child care deserts” and overhaul funding for early child- hood education, experts say. Six in 10 Winnipeg children and eight in 10 rural kids live in an area where there are either none, or too few, fa- cilities, says a report by University of Manitoba sociologist Susan Prentice, released Tuesday. Across the province, there is a child care space for just 18.8 per cent of Manitoba’s children be- tween the ages of 12 weeks and 12 years — much low- er than the Canada-wide average of 27.2 per cent, according to “Progressive Pricing: Making Child- care More Affordable in Manitoba.” The study of Manitoba’s regulated child care fees, and the degree to which they are affordable to parents, was published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in Manitoba, on the eve of Wednesday’s speech from the throne to open the new sitting of the legislature. The think tank anticipates policy changes will be included in the speech, after the provincial government com- missioned a $599,000 review by KPMG on the financing of child care. Prentice said in an interview she’s concerned the situation could be made worse. There may be incentives offered to companies to set up for-profit day- cares. There may be “demand-side fund- ing” for consumers to pay for child care, but nothing that establishes new, much- needed centre spaces, said Prentice. “This government has a maniacal preference for family or home-based child care over centres,” she said. Although child care centres provide 92 per of licensed spaces and home- based daycares provide only eight per cent, the province keeps pinning its hopes on expanding home-based day- cares, Prentice said. Half of them close after four years, and very few operators have early childhood education training, she said. “It’s like repeatedly betting on a losing horse.” Revenue has been frozen for child care centres in Manitoba; most are non- profits set up by parents because the province doesn’t establish new ones, the report says. Parent fees were last set in 2013, and provincial operating grants were last set in 2016. Because of frozen revenue, facilities have had to find ways to cut costs, contrib- uting to keeping wages low for trained early- childhood educators. Low wages have negative effects on quality of care, as centres find it challeng- ing or impossible to recruit and retain trained staff, the report says. Close to 30 per cent of child-care centres chronically can’t meet the provincial standards for staff- ing, the report says, because they can’t recruit and retain adequate numbers of qualified educators. Meanwhile, it found most low-in- come parents in Manitoba are priced out of child care; incomes have to be at least $10,000 under the poverty line to qualify for a maximum-fee subsidy. For nearly 60 per cent of Manitoba’s moderate-income families, who make up about 55 per cent of the population, child care fees consume more than 10 per cent of net family income. The report calls for progressive pric- ing for child care in Manitoba. It mod- elled the affordability effects if child care fees are between five and 10 per cent of net family income, with a new increased daily maximum fee. It found 19 out of 20 Manitoba parents would pay less under progressive pricing. If the province builds more affordable child care spaces to meet demand, within a decade they would pay for themselves with increased productivity and the tax revenue generated, the report says. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Child care ‘deserts’ pox on post-pandemic resurrection CAROL SANDERS Economy, society better served with more facilities MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Justice Minister Cliff Cullen calls existing rules ‘outdated and inadequate’ and wants to bring them in line with other provinces. Not just numbers — COVID-19 gets personal ‘This government has a maniacal preference for family or home- based child care over centres’ A_04_Oct-07-20_FP_01.indd A4 2020-10-06 9:45 PM ;