Kinew – Winnipeg Free Press

A search of a landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of two Indigenous women could begin before the summer, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says.

“We’re going to make a serious good-faith effort on behalf of the families to show their loved one dignity and to support them achieving some semblance of justice,” the premier said in a wide-ranging year-end interview this week with the Free Press.

Kinew said he wants the search at Prairie Green Landfill for remains of Marcedes Myran, 26, and Morgan Harris, 36 — who Winnipeg police say were slain last year by an alleged serial killer — to start as soon as possible, noting it could be carried out during winter months.

However, it’s reasonable to expect the effort to be launched within the first six months of 2024, the premier said. Making measurable progress on the recovery effort was a priority for his first 100 days in office, the Fort Rouge MLA added.

“For our part, we’re working on the resources — which we’ve identified internally — and now turning towards the logistics and the actual mechanics of how do we deliver this search in a compassionate way and also in a way that respects safety for people involved?”

Police believe the remains of Myran and Harris were deposited in May 2022 at the privately owned landfill in the Rural Municipality of Rosser. Waste was dumped and compacted over a 34-day period, before investigators determined the bodies were likely buried there.

Jeremy Anthony Micheal Skibicki, 36, faces four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified woman (temporarily named Buffalo Woman by Indigenous elders).

Some of Contois’s remains were found in a garbage bin in the North Kildonan neighbourhood in May 2022. Police recovered additional remains during a search at the city-owned Brady Road landfill the following month.

The NDP government has determined what it will spend to search Prairie Green, in consultation with Indigenous leadership and the victims’ families who have been involved in the process, the premier said.

A feasibility study by an Indigenous-led committee found such a search could take one to three years and cost between $84 million and $184 million.

Then-premier Heather Stefanson ruled out a search of the landfill in July, saying the Progressive Conservative government would not put workers at risk when there was no guarantee of success.

The Tories campaigned against the landfill search ahead of the Oct. 3 election. The NDP won a majority government; the PCs were relegated to official Opposition status.

Kinew refused to say how much the province has budgeted — only that it is far below the price tag discussed during the election campaign. The search will be conducted thoroughly and professionally, the premier said.

The exact details of the NDP’s commitment will be announced next year, and discussions with the federal Liberal government about its contributions to the effort are ongoing.

“We have an alignment of values on this,” Kinew said.

Silica prominent in critical mineral strategy

The premier said a major silica deposit in southeastern Manitoba will most likely be developed.

“The question for us is: what does that look like?” Kinew said. “How do we ensure that the environmental standards are there to guarantee the water supply, to guarantee the long-term environmental concerns are mitigated?”

The potential benefits to developing a resource that contributes to reduced greenhouse gas emissions through the manufacturing of solar panels and other electronics necessary for a low-carbon economy also need to be weighed, he said. “So it’s a complicated scenario.”

Alberta-based Sio Silica wants to extract a large amount of silica sand (up to 1.36 million tonnes per year over four years) by drilling up to 1,200 wells in the RM of Springfield, near Vivian.

The plan has been met with fierce opposition from local communities, who fear the mining operation will threaten their water supply.

In its report on the project, released in June, the Clean Environment Commission was unable to state with confidence all potential environmental effects had been fully considered and adequate plans were prepared to prevent or mitigate them.

The PC government did not announce a decision on Sio Silica’s application for an environmental licence prior to the provincial election.

The NDP government is taking a second look at Sio Silica’s business case, the economic rationale, environmental assessment and consultation with Indigenous groups, Kinew said.

The deep dive into the past work on the file was necessary, in part, because the outgoing government tried to issue Sio Silica a licence during the transition period after the election, the premier said.

“Not that we’re going to say, ‘no,’ not that I’m telegraphing the answer, but the fact that the outgoing administration tried to push this through before we were sworn-in did create some skepticism about the leg work leading up to a potential approval.”

Kinew reiterated the NDP government wants to increase mining and critical minerals will figure prominently into its plans.

“This thing may have been at the finish line when we were coming into office and, because of the actions of the outgoing PC administration, we’re backing up a few steps,” he said.

Vape tax, school nutrition program on deck

The Manitoba government will begin taxing vaping products this summer.

Kinew said the province will sign on to the federal government’s excise duty framework on vaping products, which will have Ottawa collect the additional tax and remit it to the province.

The federal government already charges manufacturers and importers $7 per 30 millilitre bottle of vaping liquid. Under the framework, provinces can add an equivalent tax.

The new levy will be contained in the NDP’s first budget, which is set for the spring, and could come into effect as early as July 1, Kinew said.

It will generate about $11 million annually for the province.

“We’re concerned about young people who are vaping and we need to do more in terms of advertising and public service announcements to young people to talk about the dangers of vaping,” Kinew said.

“This is one policy tool that helps to support those goals and generates a bit of revenue to be able to do some of that social responsibility work.”

Heading into 2024 with budget preparations underway, Kinew said his top priority will be health care, and he hopes to strike a balance between spending on health and economic growth while reducing the deficit in the NDP’s first fiscal blueprint.

More staffed medicine beds at hospitals with critical care units will be announced in January, as part of a long-term plan to build a new emergency room at the Victoria General Hospital and a new CancerCare Manitoba headquarters in Winnipeg, he said.

“Being able to add beds at hospitals across Manitoba, in the first few months of the new year, is about meeting the needs of the patients, but also about bringing these staff into place.”

A promised universal school nutrition program will also be rolled out early in 2024, with a plan to spend just under $1.5 million to launch programs at schools currently on the Child Nutrition Council’s waiting list.

“(It’s) a first step to ensuring that there’s fewer kids going to school hungry in Manitoba,” the premier said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca