Oswald maps out first 100 days as premier

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This article was published 02/03/2015 (3873 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WITH less than a week to go before the NDP leadership convention, Theresa Oswald announced plans Sunday for her first 100 days should she become the premier of Manitoba.

New Democrat Party members will vote March 8 at the party’s leadership convention to decide who will lead the NDP and, by extension, take the office of the premier.

At Sunday’s press conference in St. James, Oswald highlighted her plans as she said “every member and every Manitoban should have a sense of what the plan is going to be and how we’re going to execute that plan.”

In addition to highlighting her general plans to protect hospitals and schools, make college and university more affordable and create jobs, Oswald said she would unveil a new provincial sales tax rebate.

“Our budget will create a new PST rebate for low-income families,” Oswald said. “Right away, we will be starting the pilot project for the program that we announced during this campaign for free in-school tutoring… and fund new positions for midwives in our province. We will hire more immigration officers and workplace health and safety officers, because we’ve heard from our new Canadians that we have to make our processes go faster and be even more efficient than they are today.”

Oswald said the budget she would table in April will include a responsible timeline for balancing the budget, and she reiterated plans she had announced in January to start a provincial pension plan.

“I will ensure that official consultations begin with workers and with business on creating a made-in-Manitoba pension plan for those one-in-two workers today that do not have a workplace pension. That was my commitment, and we will get started right away,” she said.

Other highlights of her plan included meeting with every caucus member and swearing in a new cabinet in the first two weeks, calling a byelection in The Pas, shortening the 60-day rule to 45 days regarding work stoppages, improving back-to-work protocols for injured workers and introducing legislation to provide victims of domestic violence with protected leave from work and flexible work arrangements.

Oswald said she would be establishing a new Premier’s Rural Advisory Panel and meeting with municipal, First Nation and Métis leaders on creating a more open relationship.

Oswald said the experience of running for NDP leader and speaking with people across the province has been enriching and energizing.

“It’s also been really educational. When you sit down at a table in Norway House with a family who has a daughter who is one of Canada’s missing aboriginal women and you listen with your heart to what they have to say about what it is we need to do next, most importantly ensuring there are supports for families that are grieving today, it changes you in a way that is difficult to put into words,” Oswald said.

Asked if she borrowed from Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman for the first-100-days plan he also used, Oswald noted the first-100-days idea originated in American politics and was featured on the popular television series The West Wing in 1999-2006.

“It’s not a new concept, but it is quite an effective one in terms of measuring short-term progress with a view to potential long-term success,” Oswald said. “So, with great respect to Mayor Bowman, it wasn’t his idea.”

Oswald is one of three candidates in the race, along with Premier Greg Selinger and former infrastructure minister Steve Ashton. Oswald is a former health minister who was a part of a group of former ministers whose revolt last fall triggered the leadership race. Ashton is a veteran cabinet minister who took no sides in a power struggle with Selinger.

 

— staff