Skip to content

Vystrcil-Spence of Liberals: ‘A shift is going to happen’

Manitoba Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence was the final speaker in the Thompson Chamber of Commerce’s election series April 13, filling in the chamber on her vision for moving forward with Thompson and the north.
Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence spoke to the Thompson Chamber of Commerce April 13.
Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence spoke to the Thompson Chamber of Commerce April 13.

Manitoba Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence was the final speaker in the Thompson Chamber of Commerce’s election series April 13, filling in the chamber on her vision for moving forward with Thompson and the north. 

Vystrcil-Spence has spent considerable time working with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) since 1996, most recently as the organization’s health director beginning in 2008, and currently acts as a senior advisor for the group. Vystrcil-Spence helped negotiate the terms for Child and Family Service’s Northern Authority before the program’s initial implementation, as well as several health initiatives surrounding such issues such as suicide prevention, tuberculosis, and the H1N1 flu Virus. While Vystrcil-Spence no longer resides in Thompson, she still considers herself a northerner at heart: “I’ve been a part of the community; even though my postal code is not here, I’m always here: I probably spend more time with my sister’s family than my own children.”

Recalling her first experiences in politics as a legislative intern, Vystrcil-Spence was drawn to the Liberal Party by what she saw as a more authentic brand of political engagement: “What I liked about Rana [Bokhari]’s approach was that she didn’t want to get into the usual political banter that goes on. As an intern, I would observe what goes on behind the scenes, and sometimes I found it … confusing. Maybe I was naïve, believing that it was always about representing people, but it wasn’t like that. It was a little disillusioning for myself, and for many years I felt like I had to fit into that. When I met Rana, I liked her aura: she was coming at it from a positive, optimistic place.”

It was also the Liberal’s centrist position that appealed to Vystrcil-Spence: “I decided to stand up as a Liberal candidate because it was a middle of the road, centrist approach. There’s a two-party system in Manitoba, and I looked at this as an opportunity to grow a party, and grow a movement.” She noted that while she understood, as a social worker, that support services and safety nets were an important part of community well-being, it was also important to empower individuals to act for themselves, whether this means on a personal level, or in supporting private enterprise: “What I’m excited moving forward is finding models to bring people together.”

Vystrcil-Spence’s background revolves largely around health and childcare; contentious issues in the north, her background seemed almost custom-tailored to addressing many of the concerns brought forward by the chamber. Chamber President Oswald Sawh began with the same question asked of all three candidates: what to do about northern education and the growing gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students? Vystrcil-Spence noted, quickly, that school board trustees were key in the process, and that she intended to engaged with them “without crossing their lines.” But for the most part, Vystrcil-Spence insisted the issue was providing children with the right start during their formative years, rather than intervening later in the child’s life. She provided the example of a community near The Pas, where a local daycare worked with the Aboriginal Head Start program: “Those children, who went through that facility, succeeded in high school. 90 per cent of them graduated. Downstream, in high school, we have unique challenges but I think we also can look at what’s happening upstream as well.”

Vystrcil-Spence also cited social issues like poverty, housing, and inclusion among students: “I’m not saying we just need to focus on the social issues, but we need to ensure that those supports are there for families.”

City councillor Penny Byer had a multitude of questions and began by referencing Vystrcil-Spence’s commitments to childcare. In her initial speech, Vystrcil-Spence brought up a staggering statistic for northern Manitoba: 9,000 children in the north were currently under five, while current daycares currently had spaces for only 1,000. Byer stressed that an increase in daycare capacity required an increase in staff as well, and asked for Vystrcil-Spence’s thoughts on the creation of a new childcare support-worker role.

Vystrcil-Spence noted that this was, first and foremost, a question of regulatory policy: “It’s about the safety and protection of our children. Let’s look at that, and see if we have the opportunity to make room for support themselves.” However, the crux of the issue was funding. Vystrcil-Spence had earlier noted that while northern Manitoba represented 12 per cent of the province’s need for childcare, the region only received three per cent of the provincial childcare budget. “Part of it is doing the research, which I’ve started to do, to come together as a community and present the demographics to the province and the funders, to look at how we can get our fair share.”

Byer also brought up the issue of gambling revenues from products like VLTs: “Our revenue goes to the province, which gives back a percentage based on a formula. We’ve long said that formula is unfair, because communities like Steinbach who don’t even have VLT’s, were getting revenue from it. Especially in areas such as ours, where the social needs are greatest, that money should come back for social programming.”

“You’ve convinced me,” responded Vystrcil-Spence, who supported investigating the matter further. But she also reminded the chamber that there were more ways to benefit than simply getting a fair share, such as the creation of the ever-discussed urban reserve, along with the jobs, training opportunities, and businesses that would come with that.

Byer also asked for Vystrcil-Spence’s take on the construction of a northern restorative justice facility in Thompson. Though Vystrcil-Spence did not specifically reference the facility in her response, she made no qualifications in supporting a restorative justice framework: “I support it wholeheartedly. I can speak from personal experience, having helped a family member through the healing circle in Nelson House, and it turned him around. There’s been a lot of research done in the states, the models are there and they work: It’s not even a matter of whether we should do it: we definitely should.”

Finally, Canadian Mental Health Association Thompson executive director Paullette Simkins asked Vystrcil-Spence about whether she would lobby for greater support for mental health and alcohol misuse. Here, Vystrcil-Spence was a little less certain as to how to answer. She did, however, demonstrate her knowledge and cite statistics for both problems: “The findings in the community health assessment for Thompson highlighted that one-third of the province is made up of binge drinkers, which is a high number, while 30 per cent of health authority staff cite mental health as a weakness of the region. For mental health, there are a lot of gaps here. I will definitely commit to working on and advocating for that.”

“We need people who know our community, who know our people, to represent us and advocate for our needs. I can represent the people of Thompson and it’s surrounding communities. I can find the bridge that brings us all together.”

Manitoba’s provincial election takes place on April 19.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks