Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 6, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba TOP NEWS A3 THURSDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Province launches campaign to encourage local shopping in face of potential U.S. tariffs Buy local, ‘put Manitoba pride first’ T HE provincial government is ur- ging consumers to close ranks around homegrown producers and has launched an advertising cam- paign to encourage Manitobans to buy local goods in the face of a potential trade war with the U.S. The “Support Manitoba. Buy Local” campaign has been launched on digital platforms and will expand to billboards and radio ads over one month at a cost of $140,000, Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference Wednesday. “This is going to help amplify the message that we need to shop local,” Kinew said Wednesday, flanked by members of his cabinet who simultan- eously unfurled Winnipeg-produced tote bags bearing the new advertising slogan. “While we are going to continue to manage the relationship with the new administration in the U.S., one thing is for certain: buying local and sup- porting local business in Manitoba, it always makes sense.” The campaign includes a website (manitoba.ca/buylocal) that links to made-in-Manitoba and made-in-Can- ada products and businesses. The campaign is being instituted after a tumultuous weekend in which U.S. President Donald Trump appeared ready to implement 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods imported by the U.S. The move was paused for at least 30 days on Monday afternoon, amid ne- gotiations between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Kinew has joined other premiers to present a unified front by pledging to take retaliatory action should the tar- iffs be imposed. On Sunday, the premier directed Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, a Crown corporation, to pull U.S.-made alcohol from Liquor Marts, as of Tuesday, and halt new orders. That moved was post- poned after the tariffs were paused. “Over the past week, it’s been maybe a bit of whiplash in terms of ‘Are we going? Are we not? What’s happening?’ But through it all, to see people come together to rally around the flag, to put Manitoba pride first and foremost has been very, very encouraging,” Kinew said. He stressed it is important for the province to diversify its economy and find new trading partners. Consumer spending on products from Manitoba, or Canada, will help to develop busi- nesses and jobs locally, he said. Jesse Oberman, owner of Next Friend Cider, spoke to reporters during the campaign announcement. He said more customers have been asking questions about how and where his company’s goods are produced. “I think it’s great,” he said. Michael Mikulak, executive direc- tor of Food and Beverage Manitoba, said tariffs could be the death blow for many businesses in the food-service sector, which suffered during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. He endorsed the government’s plea to shop local. “The food and beverage sector in Manitoba is massive. We are the lar- gest manufacturing sector in the prov- ince and we export globally,” Mikulak said. “I think it’s time for Manitobans to really rally around those things that make life more special, make life more delicious.” Mikulak suggested people should stock their fridges with Manitoba-made food products before the NFL Super Bowl set to take place Sunday between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadel- phia Eagles. Recent data from the Retail Coun- cil of Canada suggests consumers had been searching for Canadian-made goods even before Trump was sworn in Jan. 20. A national poll of 2,510 people, con- ducted during the holiday season, found 76 per cent of respondents preferred to buy from retailers based in Canada, while 72 per cent preferred Canadian goods. “The concept of buying local isn’t ne- cessarily new,” said John Graham, the organization’s Prairie director of gov- ernment relations. “A strong majority of Manitobans are interested in supporting local, but at the same time we know affordability remains a significant concern for many and so local and Canadian products still have to compete on price and quality and other factors that remain import- ant to consumers.” Graham said the provincial govern- ment’s willingness to move quickly in reaction to the tariff threat is a good sign. He stressed improving trade between the provinces and “Trump-proofing” the Manitoba economy should continue to be a priority. tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca TYLER SEARLE MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Michael Mikulak, executive director of Food and Beverage Manitoba, encouraged Manitobans to stock up on local goods ahead of Sunday’s NFL Super Bowl. Get vaccinated for measles as cases emerge: province HEALTH Minister Uzoma Asagwara encouraged people to get vaccinated against measles — telling them the jabs are safe and effective — after five cases in southern Manitoba were linked to an outbreak in Ontario. A Winkler church and locations at Health Sciences Centre and Children’s Hospital were identified as potential exposure sites visited by all or some of the five people, who live in the same household, on certain dates in January. “It’s very, very important to note, and I will say this to all Manitobans, that vaccines are safe, vaccines are ef- fective,” Asagwara said Wednesday, a day after Manitoba confirmed its first cases since 2019. “It is so important, in a time where we’ve seen disinformation and mis- information rampant, that people talk to their nurse practitioners, they talk to their doctors, they talk to their pri- mary care providers and get accurate, science-based evidence, information to take care of their health.” Manitoba Health did not reveal the vaccination status of the five people, nor their ages, genders or community. The highly contagious measles virus spreads via airborne droplets as an in- fected person breathes, coughs or sneez- es. It causes a potentially life-threat- ening disease that is generally more severe in babies and young children. Vaccination is the best defence for children and adults, said Dr. Jared Bul- lard, a professor who is section head of pediatric infectious diseases at Chil- dren’s Hospital. Officials expected cases in Manitoba due, in part, to outbreaks in Eastern Canada. “We also know that in Manitoba, the rate of measles vaccination isn’t as ideal as it could be,” Bullard said. He said the COVID-19 pandemic slowed uptake. “In addition, we don’t see certain childhood diseases for which we vac- cinate much any more, so people don’t have any living memory of it,” Bullard said. “They don’t realize how serious it can be, and so they don’t tend to ne- cessarily get the vaccines to the same degree that they used to.” Manitoba has a voluntary two-dose vaccine program for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) for kids who are at least a year old. A second dose is given when children are four to six. According to provincial records, 65.4 per cent of children who were seven years old in 2023 received all recom- mended doses of a measles vaccine, down from 74.3 per cent in 2020 and 75.1 per cent in 2005. By health region (where populations vary), Prairie Mountain had the high- est uptake (72.8 per cent) in 2023, while Southern Health, which includes Wink- ler, had the lowest (53.3 per cent). The uptake within the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority was 66.7 per cent. For those aged 17 in 2023, more than three-quarters (77.3 per cent) in Mani- toba had full vaccine coverage. North- ern Health ranked highest (95.7 per cent) by region, and Winnipeg ranked lowest (69.9 per cent). Southern Health’s coverage in that age category was 79.7 per cent. Nationally, 79.2 per cent of seven- year-old children in 2021 were vaccin- ated by that birthday, the federal gov- ernment reported. Bullard said the vast majority of vac- cine hesitancy that he sees from par- ents comes from a “good place.” “They’re concerned about harms as- sociated with vaccines, or they’ve seen something online that they find very concerning, so it’s really helpful to talk through that in a comprehensive man- ner,” he said. Physicians use the best available evi- dence about vaccine efficacy, and their expertise to address concerns, Bullard said. He said the first vaccine dose at age one is 95 per cent effective, while a second dose at pre-school age increases the efficacy to 99 per cent. There is no antiviral treatment for measles. Some people, Bullard noted, are not interested in vaccination at all. A 2021 federal survey asked 5,446 parents about vaccines. Of those who said they were hesitant to vaccinate their children, concern about side effects, believing vaccines were not necessary and a lack of confidence in vaccine effectiveness were cited as the most common reasons. Religious or philosophical reasons were cited in less than two per cent of responses from vaccine-hesitant par- ents in a similar survey in 2017. The five Manitoba cases were linked to contact with infected people while travelling in Ontario. Manitoba Health said they were asked to isolate. Asagwara said contact tracing has been completed. “It’s a situation that we’re going to pay very close attention to to make sure that more communities here in Mani- toba are safe,” they said. The province said people may have been exposed to measles at a Sunday school and main service at Reinland Mennonite Church in Winkler between 9:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 26. People who were there were advised to monitor for symptoms until Feb. 16. Other potential exposure sites, all at HSC’s campus on Jan. 31, were the first- floor children’s laboratory and waiting rooms of Clinic X and Clinic W (from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.); Orange Bison Zone Level 1 in and around Guildy’s Eatery and adjacent corridors (from noon to 3 p.m.); and the fourth-floor cardiology clinic and waiting room in Children’s Hospital (from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.). People who were in those areas were told to monitor for symptoms until Feb. 21. Measles infects the respiratory tract. Initial symptoms, which generally ap- pear seven to 21 days after exposure, may include a fever, runny nose, drows- iness, irritability and red eyes. Small white spots may appear inside the mouth or throat. A red blotchy rash appears days later on the face and spreads down the body. An infected person can spread the virus from four days before the rash appears until four days after, the province said. The virus can lead to serious com- plications such as encephalitis (brain swelling), blindness and pneumonia. Adults born before 1970, when there were high levels of measles circulation, are presumed to have natural immun- ity. Canada reported 146 cases in 2024, mostly in Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario. chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca CHRIS KITCHING Possible sources MANITOBA Health has identified the following possible measles exposure sites in connection with the five cases: Reinland Mennonite Church in Winkler (Sunday school and main service) between 9:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 26. People who may have been exposed should monitor for symptoms until Feb. 16. Health Sciences Centre’s first-floor children’s laboratory and waiting rooms in Clinic X and Clinic W between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Jan. 31. HSC’s Orange Bison Zone Level 1 in and around Guildy’s Eatery and adjacent corri- dors from noon to 3 p.m. on Jan. 31. HSC’s fourth-floor cardiology clinic and waiting room in Children’s Hospital between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Jan. 31. People who may have been exposed at the HSC locations were advised to watch for symptoms until Feb. 21. JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Vaccination is the best defence for children and adults, said Dr. Jared Bullard, a professor and section head of pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital. ;