T R A N S C R I P T

CJOB RADIO

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

“Breakfast with the Premier”



LARRY UPDIKE:

Premier, thank you for joining us as always. I’m looking at your vehicle over here and I see the yellow ribbon and I don’t know what to make about this move in Toronto of removing them, what do you have to say about it?

PREMIER GARY DOER:

Well, we support the troops, the troops from Shilo and the 17 Wing located in Manitoba and the reservists that are going over there fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan, we support our troops, they’ve made the ultimate sacrifice. Some of them have lost their lives fighting on our behalf and if anybody wants to get rid of a yellow ribbon in Toronto we’ll take it in Winnipeg.

LARRY UPDIKE:

I see you’re wearing one on your lapel, you feel strongly about this?

PREMIER GARY DOER:

I do. I think it’s really important to support the decision of the federal government for this mission, United Nation troops are there. We know that the Taliban was involved in training the Al Qaida terrorists and certainly I personally support the mission, have from the beginning after 9/11, and we have to demonstrate our support for the troops, and I think wearing the yellow ribbon is good way to do it. I think it’s very important to show that we appreciate the ultimate sacrifice that they are making for us and the tremendous sacrifice families make when their loved one are over there in a theatre of conflict and a theatre of danger.

LARRY UPDIKE:

We’ve had lots of moisture lately, I think you’re off to Shellmouth Dam today, isn’t it today?



PREMIER GARY DOER:

We’ve had lots of moisture. We’ve gone from virtual drought on the east side of Lake Winnipeg last fall to a lot of replenished lakes and overflowing lakes and rivers and that’s good for preventing forest fires and replenishing some of the water. On the west side we’ve had… you’ve seen the water moisture levels in Saskatchewan and Calgary, or Alberta rather, and also in western Manitoba. We’re visiting the Shellmouth Dam area, which is a dam that protects all of Manitoba for flooding. It’s also a dam that preserves water flow to protect water quality on the Assiniboine River later on in the year when it gets lower, but we want to make sure that we visit with the farmers who may be adversely impacted by the high water levels and the operation of the dam, and I promised them last year when I visited them that I’d be in touch with them. We’re trying to deal with their issues that are unique in a unique way, and they’ll be touring me around the Shellmouth Dam area today with a couple of other cabinet ministers.

LARRY UPDIKE:

You heard first here yesterday at CJOB 68 about the Air Canada maintenance base, but I haven’t had a chance to get your reaction here this morning.

PREMIER GARY DOER:

Well, certainly the lay-offs that have been announced in British Columbia and Vancouver are serious for the maintenance structure of Air Canada. It has a bumping implication for Winnipeg because of the seniority clauses. The potential or actual sale of the maintenance operations across Canada to a different company has created anxiety, I think, on the shop floor, and Richard Cloutier had that report yesterday. Our view is this is a very productive maintenance centre. In fact, it does work for other airlines, including Jet Blue in Winnipeg because of its profitability. We will continue to contribute to the Air Canada maintenance base with reasonable and affordable energy costs and investments in training, but we, whether it’s a bus company that was a risk a couple of years ago or Air Canada maintenance base that’s dealing with some of uncertainty with a new owner, we will work with the employees and with whoever the owner is going to be to ensure they know that the healthy order book is in Manitoba because of the productive employees here, so that will be our message to whoever eventually owns this maintenance base in Winnipeg.

LARRY UPDIKE:

I’m in conversation with Premier Gary Doer, this is CJOB 68, broadcasting live from Robin’s at Fermor and Lagimodiere. The provincial indoor smoking ban is going to be argued in court on Friday. I don’t know how flexible you are about talking about court cases, but here’s a challenge that we haven’t heard of before.




PREMIER GARY DOER:

Well, there’s two issues to the court decision. One is the issue of smoking, and we have agreed to implement the smoking ban in all areas where we have the rights of gaming. For example, the proposed Headingley First Nation gambling site with smoking, we have made that a condition of our VLT’s to implement the spirit and the wording of the court decision, and we’re trying to do that as all the new agreements become open, but the ability to have affirmative action, as we do now in Wuskwatum for hiring and training Aboriginal People that live adjacent to dams, we think is critical for the future development of Hydro. You’re not going to have development of hydro in the future without partnerships with the people that have lived there for 6,000 years, so the issue that’s being reported as a smoking issue, it’s bigger than that. For us, it’s the issue of being able to have training and affirmative action to deal with 120 years of Canadian history where people were taken away from the economic means, denied the opportunity to participate in their former resources, and we’ve got a lot of catching up to do, and we believe that economic development opportunities is the way to start reversing Canadian history and we believe that that includes hydro-electric development where people live and have lived for 6,000 years.

LARRY UPDIKE:

Sometimes more media than protestors show up at demonstrations. Now I want to say this, the U of M students are demonstrating this morning against proposed new lab fees and there are charges that, you know, the tuition fees are going up, they’re just going up through other means.

PREMIER GARY DOER:

Well, we gave the universities over 7% increase in funding and Manitoba’s tuition fees have gone… they’re amongst the lowest in Canada, we’ve kept them very low. There was a report out just recently that indicated that the debt students have when they come out of university has been reduced dramatically, which we think is good because then they can afford to buy a home or vehicle here in Manitoba and stay in Manitoba. We’ve also put in measures that they can deduct the cost of tuition after they graduate if they stay in Manitoba, so that is another very, very attractive package. I respect the right of people to demonstrate in a democracy, and obviously any fee that’s put on as for users is a burden on students, but we think in terms of making universities affordable we have worked very carefully to make sure that happens.

LARRY UPDIKE:

All right, you went to St. Paul’s, here we are at Robin’s and of course, the Clansmen, the Murdoch Mackay Clansmen, the donuts, the proceeds are going to them, in part, this morning, did you play football?

PREMIER GARY DOER:

I was in a twilight of a mediocre sports career, I played football for St. Paul’s. The Clansmen look pretty big here, you know, and everybody in Transcona should be supporting this team. I think their first game is against Oak Park and they’re raising money today, and they look pretty formidable out here in the parking lot, so I think high school football is great. I think we’ve got, in this area of the city, we’ve got a new team in Elmwood last year, now, this team, the Clansmen, I think it’s great. Participating in sports, I think, is wonderful in high school, at the high school level, and as I say, they look like they could take us on, Larry.

LARRY UPDIKE:

They’re mean as dogs aren’t they? Anyway, Premier, we’re out of time, thank you for yours.

PREMIER GARY DOER:

Thank you, good luck to the team.