Minister of Education and Training and Portage MLA Ian Wishart is reflecting on a busy year. Wishart says it was a huge year of change for himself and for the government, noting the Progressive Conservatives have been in power for a little over seven months and have already seen a number of accomplishments. Wishart says from his point of view, one highlight of 2016 was introducing his first piece of legislation as a minister---a bill to protect students against sexual harassment. He notes in 2016 they also had to deal with the issue of the midwife program coming to an end, adding they do have an agreement in place for new students next year.

Wishart says the government made some major overhauls of the provincial nominee immigration program, which was recently announced and has been well received. He notes the long waiting list of applications should be gone by April and anyone who applies will have an answer within six months instead of waiting nearly four years.

Wishart adds many people have spoken to him this year about the education tax. He says Manitoba is the last province with a ratepayer or property base on education, noting the government is looking very hard at alternative models and should have a better solution before too long. Wishart says another issue on which he spent a great deal of time in 2016 was the fact that the province is well behind on building new schools. He adds some divisions are using high numbers of portable classroom units, so the government will have to be creative in addressing this problem.