Manitoba·UpdatedManitoba’s NDP government is promising to build, saying in its third throne speech that it will construct an overpass at the location of a bus crash that killed 17 seniors, set up the province’s first supervised consumption site and build a new fuel-burning generation station to stave off a forecast power shortage.Health-care improvements also promised in speech from the throneIan Froese · CBC News · Posted: Nov 18, 2025 2:37 PM EST | Last Updated: 7 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew’s third throne speech includes commitments to build a new highway overpass near Carberry and twin the Trans-Canada highway from the Ontario border to West Hawk Lake. (Bryce Hoye/CBC)Manitoba’s NDP government is promising to build, saying in its third throne speech it will construct an overpass at the location of a bus crash that killed 17 seniors, set up the province’s first supervised consumption site and build a new fuel-burning generation station to stave off a forecast power shortage.The address — which outlines the priorities of Wab Kinew’s government for the coming legislative session — also commits to improving the health-care system for staff and patients.The province will begin the process of ending mandatory overtime for health-care workers, starting with nurses, said a copy of the speech read in the legislature Tuesday by Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville.”You wouldn’t get on a plane with a pilot who has worked two back-to-back shifts. Why should you go to an ER where nurses have been asked to do that very thing,” the speech says.There’s also a pledge to legislate staff-to-patient ratios in unnamed priority areas of the health-care system.Kinew, speaking at an embargoed briefing before the throne speech was read, said the province will first look at ending mandatory overtime and legislating staffing ratios in emergency departments. Meanwhile, patients will soon have access to digital health cards and, later in the year, a new online portal to see their lab results and immunizations.The province is also vowing to create a patient safety charter that will enshrine into law “your right to good health care,” the speech says.The government’s pledge to build an overpass at the intersection of Highway 5 and the Trans-Canada near Carberry is expected to be celebrated by locals, who fiercely opposed the government’s initial proposal — an intersection configuration that would have required merges and U-turns to get onto the busy Trans-Canada Highway.”This intersection is different now than any other intersection in Manitoba because of the loss of life and how sad it was to see those seniors passing away,” Kinew said.”And because this intersection is different, with that scrutiny and that history, it means that we have that extra responsibility to listen to community voices on this.”A semi-trailer truck and a bus full of seniors on their way to a casino collided at the intersection on June 15, 2023, killing 17 people. The other eight people on the bus were seriously injured.A June 16, 2023, drone photo shows the highway intersection that was the site of a fatal crash near Carberry, Man., the previous day. An overpass will be built at the intersection, the speech from the throne says. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)Some area residents, as well as Carberry’s town council, wanted an overpass at the intersection, but the government initially said it wasn’t an option because current traffic volumes aren’t high enough.The throne speech commits to starting the design work for the overpass next year.The speech also promises to open a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg in January but doesn’t specify where it will be located or how the government can guarantee Health Canada’s approval in time. Kinew said he’s confident the January timeline can be met, because the province has already done much of the legwork on the application and will now file the paperwork and consult with the public.The province will apply for a licence through Health Canada’s urgent public health needs stream.The new $3-billion fuel-generating system in Westman is bigger in scope than Manitoba Hydro’s original plan for a $1.36-billion station to prevent the province from running out of power in winter in the future.The proposed facility will feature three turbines, rather than the previous plan for two, producing 750 megawatts of power. It will start with burning natural gas, but Kinew hopes the facility will eventually be fuelled with cleaner renewables.The province already has 600 megawatts of wind power in the works.Other infrastructure projects in the throne speech include starting construction on the Victoria Hospital emergency department in January, a new ER in Eriksdale this winter and twinning the Trans-Canada Highway from the Ontario border to West Hawk Lake next year.ABOUT THE AUTHORIan Froese covers the Manitoba Legislature and provincial politics for CBC News in Winnipeg. He also serves as president of the legislature’s press gallery. You can reach him at ian.froese@cbc.ca. Twitter: @ianfroese
Manitoba throne speech promises overpass at site of deadly bus crash, supervised consumption site by January
