Liberals Call for Squires to be Fired

Manitoba Post StaffNews

Dougald Lamont, Manitoba Liberal Leader is calling for Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires to be fired. The liberals say that Minister Squires withheld information from the public in three different reports.

The three different reports include:

  • A study into lead contamination in the soil in St. Boniface that contradicted an earlier study. It was received by Sustainable Development in early June 2018, but withheld until the St. Boniface By-election was over on July 17.
  • A study into serious lead contamination in school yards in Point Douglas and other neighbourhood’s was withheld by the NDP government from 2007-08. The Pallister government posted the results to a government website on October 24, 2017, but failed to alert residents until the story broke nearly a year later on September 13, 2018.
  • A report from the Clean Environment Commission which involved criminal allegations on Hydro sites in northern communities. The report was received May 28, 2018, but wasn’t released until August 8, 2018. The report suggested RCMP were aware of the investigation at the time – but the Pallister Government initially referred the allegations to the RCMP anyway.

    • Lamont said that the “three strikes” were made worse because there has been no follow-up on the announcements of lead contamination, and that St. Boniface and other residents have been left in the dark about what to do.

    “Last year, when test results were good, the Government held a press conference to tell people that they needed to wash their vegetables, but now that the news is different, there has been silence,” said Lamont. “If the PCs really want to show that they are nothing like the NDP, they should take responsibility of this problem by firing Minister Squires, tell the public how to stay safe, and develop and execute a plan to fix the problem of contamination.”

    Lamont said that the issue of burying reports, while letting problems fester, summed up everything that was wrong with politics and government in Manitoba.

    “We have long-standing problems that everyone in government seems to know about, but everyone keeps quiet and does nothing because they are afraid the other guys might get elected – and do what? The same thing,” said Lamont. “Doing nothing has a cost, and politicians, not the public, should be paying the price.”