Labour Minister Points to Accomplishments

Things still aren't perfect - but Labour Minister Nancy Allan can count many accomplishments.

In her speech to convention delegates, Manitoba Labour Minister Nancy Allan reflected on the important legislative and program initiatives the New Democrats have accomplished since 1999 when they came to power. Many of those accomplishments have been in the area of safety and health.

"We've added staff at the Workplace Safety and Health Division in order to increase inspections in Manitoba workplaces. And they are making a difference. We have increased inspections by over 336 per cent. They have more than tripled.

"Have we fixed all the problems in workplace safety and health? Is the system perfect? No. But we have made remarkable progress as evidenced by the nearly 21 per cent reduction in our lost time injury rate.

"As we go forward toward achieving our goal of having the safest and healthiest workplaces possible, we will continue to rely on your input and advice. And we will continue to rely on you to help us create an even stronger health and safety culture in our workplaces."

The Labour Minister also talked about changes in provincial labour laws - and what they've done for Manitoba.

"Because of the restoration of a more balanced and harmonious labour relations climate, the average person-days lost to work stoppages in this province has decreased by more than 40 per cent since we took office. This runs counter to the national experience where the number of person days lost to strikes and lockouts has increased five-fold from 2003 to 2005."

And since she went out of her way to point it out to delegates a number of times during her talk, we would be remiss if we didn't mention that Allan said Gary Doer is "the most popular premier in Canada".