There was a lot more going on than could be published in our Winnipeg Sun exclusive about an impromptu meeting between Premier Wab Kinew and residents potentially impacted by his proposed Safe Consumption Site. Episode 26 brings you, ‘The Rest of the Story’.
Part 1– The Season Six Funding drive has reached $1660, a good pace to climb towards the $10,000 target. Our recent columns and podcasts about the Parking Authority ending cash parking payments, Winnipeg Transit reorganizing bus stops, and antisemitism within the LGBTQ+ communities opened eyes to the unaccountable behavior of the ruling and connected classes, proving our value in the media landscape.
Today in the Sun– the review of drastic shortcomings in providing proper information to the public about Transit Route and concurrent four plex zoning changes provides evidence that when City Hall says they want public engagement, the talk doesn’t match the walk.
This old-fashioned reporting is made possible because taxpayers and residents know we are in their corner and they help make sure the ongoing costs and expenses are paid for. To contribute for Season Six, please use the PayPal and E-Transfer details on our Donate Page!
13.50 Part 2- On Saturday, Sun readers learned about how residents of Point Douglas and the East Exchange went to the Manitoba Legislature to watch their petition opposing the locating of the NDP’s drug user site at 200 Disraeli Fwy. be tabled in the House. But they didn’t see it happen, because in a crass political gambit, Wab Kinew gave them an ultimatum for a one-time-only meeting.
In this segment, you’ll hear more details about their disgust with the behavior of the NDP during Question Period, and confusion about why Kinew’s first priority in the meeting was to shield the Main Street Project from withering criticism after they were caught setting up a riverbank encampment in North Point Douglas contrary to Kinew’s avowed policy.
Hear more about MSP’s ongoing loss of trust in the community, and how Kinew and his Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith tried to gaslight the residents that they don’t represent the community and there is a groundswell of support for the drug site, that the Winnipeg police support the site going on Disraeli across from Argyle High School, and the NDP’s insistence that ‘the experts’ know best.
“Basically he insinuated we’re an uncompassionate bunch.”
The key issue is that the residents are demanding to speak directly to the unnamed “experts”, to get their plan for how the site will manage the influx of erratic drug addicts after the doors of the site close at 7 pm daily, and how they will create sufficient detox programs and treatment beds to handle the existing backlog.
As the residents see it, the NDP plan will perpetuate and increase drug addiction under the guise of solving the problem. They live with the needles, human waste, violence, vandalism and robberies that the addicts inflict on their neighborhood- not Kinew, Smith or NDP House Leader Nahanni Fontaine.
When Kinew bragged he consulted with BC’s Premier Dave Eby about that province’s failed drug site operations, he lost all credibility with the well-researched and educated parents, homeowners and stakeholders who populate the areas East of Main Street.
Now, they’re finding that no one will buy their houses, because of the uncertainty Kinew’s plan is causing potential buyers.
We have added comments from an area mother and housewife who wants to speak to Kinew’s experts herself, because in her view, adding a Safe Consumption Site is “a band-aid fix” that won’t alleviate the “open drug deals and strung out people” her kids are seeing and avoiding every day.
46.10 – A wrap-up of the episode, and a look towards what’s coming up in June.