Premier Wab Kinew has added two Manitoba MLAs to his cabinet in roles focused on accessibility and first responders, ahead of Tuesday’s opening of the legislature’s fall sitting. Carla Compton, the Tuxedo MLA and a registered nurse, was named minister responsible for accessibility. Compton won the Tuxedo seat for the NDP in a 2024 byelection — the first time the party has held the riding since it was created. David Pankratz, the Waverley MLA and a former firefighter-paramedic first elected in 2023, was named minister responsible for first responders. He previously served as special envoy for military affairs, a role now handed to St. Boniface MLA Robert Loiselle. Both were sworn in at a ceremony at the Manitoba Legislative Building on Monday afternoon. According to the mandate letter, Compton is directed to “give Manitoba families supporting children, parents and grandparents disabled by barriers an easily accessible ‘front door’ to the services they need,” and to serve as the lead minister on all reviews of accessibility services for Manitobans. Kinew said Compton is expected to build on the work of her predecessor in the file, Nahanni Fontaine. A central piece of that work, Kinew said, will be developing the government’s response to a report examining the Integrated Adult Services pilot, a roughly two-and-a-half-year project that tracked participants to understand what stands in the way of adults with disabilities getting the support they need. The report, released this summer, found gaps severe enough, Kinew said, that “it necessitates a dedicated minister of the Crown working full time” on the government’s response. Among its recommendations, the report calls for an independent disability advocate to hold government to account, a redesigned support system, and better access to services and equipment for adults who lose supports after turning 18. “This is too important to get wrong,” Kinew said. “Every Manitoban deserves dignity.” Compton is also directed to bring cabinet colleagues together through a new accessibility committee to shape the government’s response. For Pankratz, the premier pointed to the toll he said the toxic drug crisis has taken on emergency workers. Per the mandate letter, Pankratz is tasked with working alongside the ministers of Labour and immigration, Health, and Housing, Addictions and Homelessness to “address the burnout and PTSD that our first responders experience.” He’s also directed to engage police, paramedics and firefighters on plans to respond to the toxic drug crisis “next spring in downtown Winnipeg, north Main, and other hot spots throughout the province, including Brandon, Thompson and other areas.” Kinew echoed those priorities, saying the toxic drug crisis “has made jobs that were already difficult even more challenging for police officers, for paramedics, for firefighters (and) for other peace officers.” He said the goal is to ensure “every firefighter has the resources to be able to come home safely at the end of a shift and that every paramedic knows that there’s help on the way.” The mandate letter also directs him to “make Manitoba’s presumptive coverage for first responders the best in Canada.” The NDP caucus also announced that MLA Logan Oxenham (Kirkfield Park) has been appointed as deputy caucus chair. MLA Shannon Corbett (Transcona) was also appointed deputy house leader.
