While in Flin Flon yesterday Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew called for mining support here in Flin Flon.  He and local MLA Tom Lindsey said the Pallister government has ignored the mining crisis in Flin Flon and other northern communities.  He said what we’ve seen is that there are hundreds of fewer people working and the response from Pallister’s government so far has been that this is business as usual but he thinks that the role of government is to take action when people are losing jobs or concerned that they may lose jobs in the future to ensure that there’s good quality mining jobs across northern Manitoba so that’s what he and Tom Lindsey are standing up for, for people who are working in the mining industry and of course the communities that benefit from having those jobs close by.

Kinew adds documents show there is less than 11 million dollars in the Mining Community Reserve Fund meaning even by the Premier’s interpretation of the legislation there is at least one million dollars available with Lindsey adding the Fund exists for this very situation to help communities facing a severe economic crisis yet Pallister refuses to use it.