NDP Calling For More COVID-19 Testing In Westman

Aug 14, 2020

Manitoba's Official Opposition is calling on the government to test all employees at the Brandon Maple Leaf Foods plant for COVID-19.

"It's a major concern," said NDP Leader Wab Kinew. "The people who are working in the plant itself, who definitely are feeling a lot of worry with the ever increasing numbers. We can't forget that as much as that's a health concern for those people, it's also an issue for the broader community as well. We definitely would like to see more testing, dramatically increased testing so that everyone working at the plant could be tested, but also that all the other folks in Brandon and Westman could still get the test that they need too."

He believes the plant should have been shut down to allow for testing.

"If the province had gone along with this plan to test employees, then open after that was done, the plant could already be reopened by now and operating at full capacity. I think that the sooner we get these tests done, the sooner that we get the situation at Maple Leaf under control, then that means the sooner that plant's going to be able to run at 100 per cent again and then that benefits everybody."

Kinew says the lack of testing at Maple Leaf is a benchmark that shows that the province has a lot of work to do before kids go back to school.

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