The MLA for Turtle Mountain says there was a few commitments in Tuesday’s Throne Speech that will be of interest to residents in the Westman region.

Doyle Piwniuk notes the speech lists government priorities and through the course of the session more details will be released. “We won’t be making any announcements in the immediate future because of this week’s by-election call for a vacant seat in Winnipeg.”

Piwniuk says the government has a number of priorities and improving health care delivery is one of them.

Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government is promising to expand the use of private providers to tackle backlogs in surgeries and diagnostic tests.

“We want to provide health care closer to home and that includes more operations in the Brandon area. Emergency services in rural areas we want them to be more reliable and dependable. We’re focusing on recruitment and retention.”

“We need to look at getting more private providers involved to help tackle the backlog. A number of people are going south to North Dakota for specialized spinal surgeries. It’s something we have to look at because it helps us economically to keep people in the province.”

Helping Manitobans deal with the high inflation rates is another issue the province wants to tackle.

One such initiative is the school tax rebate. This past year the rebate was 37 per cent. On Tuesday, the government announced plans to raise that to 50 per cent for 2023. That will work out to about $750 for an average home in Manitoba, returned to Manitobans in the fall.

Tuesday's Speech from the Throne officially opened the fifth session of the 42nd legislature.

“This will be our last Throne Speech before we head to the polls in the fall of 2023,” said Doyle Piwniuk.

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