Portage la Prairie MLA Jeff Bereza is in Winnipeg this week for the start of the Spring Session for the Legislative Assembly. He explains many new bills are being introduced this week and some things carried over from last session. He outlines what he expects to be the highlights, including one that is top of mind for everybody.

"I think one of the most important things that we need to work on, as the opposition, is convincing the NDP government that this carbon tax that we're dealing with, that's going to go up on April first another 23 per cent, is that we need to make sure that we're looking after all Manitobans," says Bereza. "I think one of the biggest things that we can do is send a message, like the Saskatchewan and Alberta governments have done, that we will no longer support the carbon tax. Here's a perfect situation to demonstrate that. If a farmer has to dry some grain, he has to use natural gas or propane. There are no alternatives that those farmers can use. So again, that has a trickle-down effect on our groceries and in our restaurants."

He explains he purchased a steak last week, costing him over $20. This is an example of seeing essential items pushed far beyond our reach in Manitoba.

"The other thing, too, is we're seeing the NDP starting to push through some bills on labour and things that are more conducive to the unions," adds Bereza.

Our MLA weighs in on another topic with which they're going to grapple regarding sewage flowing into Lake Winnipeg.

"I want to give you an idea of how bad that sewage that is being leaked into Lake Winnipeg for so long really is," continues Bereza. "It would be the equivalency, the amount of sewage that leaked into Lake Manitoba into Lake Winnipeg, of 80,000 hogs defecating in the waters for one year." 

He says the blame always falls on the agriculture business anytime there's an algae bloom, high phosphorus, or high nitrogen levels in the lakes.

"We need to look at these issues like sewage going into lakes before we start looking at blaming the farmers," notes Bereza.