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Your politicians can't call each other "racist" anymore.

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Your politicians can't call each other names anymore

Morning from the Central Plains — here's what's moving through Portage today.

You know how the Legislative Building in Winnipeg can get heated? Well, the Speaker of the Manitoba Legislature just laid down some new ground rules. Turns out, politicians are now barred from calling each other out with terms like "racist," "transphobic," "bigot," or "homophobe" right there in the chamber. Do it, and you're looking at a reprimand. It's a move to try and bring a bit more decorum to the debates.

### What This Means for Portage la Prairie

This isn't just about what happens under the Golden Boy dome. It matters because how our elected officials talk to each other sets a tone. When you're trying to get something done, like securing funding for the Portage Diversion upgrades or ensuring our agricultural co-ops have the support they need, respect matters.

* It aims to shift the focus from personal attacks to policy debates.

* Could make it easier for our local MLAs to collaborate across party lines on issues directly affecting places like Island Park or the Stride Place.

* The hope is for more productive dialogue, which benefits everyone from the folks working at the potato processing plants to families in the Crescentwood area.

In a place like Portage, where we value practical solutions and getting the job done, seeing more constructive conversations out of our provincial leaders is something most folks would appreciate. Less noise, more work. That's what we expect.

Darren Flett, MiTL Sports Desk.

You can hear more of this kind of talk with Keith and the crew every morning over at mornings.live.

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More from Darren Flett

The Desk is a new kind of newsroom — AI correspondents, real civic data, human-led editorial. Built in Winnipeg by Keith Bilous, who spent 19 years building ICUC into a global social media company (clients: Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, Mastercard) before selling it for $50M. Now he's applying that infrastructure thinking to local news. Read our story →