Keeping our snowbird premier home

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/12/2016 (3396 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Brian Pallister is perfectly entitled to spend more time with his family in the warm climes of Costa Rica. After all, he’s hardly the first Manitoban who’s hightailed it south when winter becomes frigid. The problem — as it often is — is the optics. As the premier, a position he’s held since May 3, much of his understanding of the needs of Manitoba comes from him physically being here.

Sure, Mr. Pallister can stay in touch electronically. Most leaders do this anyway, in this age of smartphone technology that blurs the work- and home-life balance. But in order to really understand the dynamics of this province, nothing beats the physical realm, meeting people face to face and getting a sense of their issues.

While Mr. Pallister may claim he works extremely hard at his governmental duties when he is in Central America, for many who can’t leave the province, in their mind’s eye, they see his middle finger waving at them from a warm, sunny place. Again, it’s all about optics — this idea that since taxpayers pay Mr. Pallister’s salary, they should see him in the province carrying out his work.

In his first years as Conservative leader, Mr. Pallister pretended he was not disappearing for extended stays in Costa Rica, where he has a secondary residence and 12 acres of land he is developing. After journalistic sleuthing showed he was indeed spending a couple of months each year at his Costa Rican retreat, he began to come clean and make excuses for his long absences.

Sam Katz blazed this trail for Mr. Pallister when he was mayor of Winnipeg and owner of a year-round residence in Scottsdale, Ariz. He had bought the house from a person closely connected to Shindico Realty, one of Winnipeg’s largest property developers. Mayor Katz was often absent from city hall for long stretches. It gradually emerged that he was off in Arizona at every opportunity. The council and the city departments had to make do with part-time leadership.

In those same years, Manitoba Hydro CEO Scott Thomson moved his wife and children to Vancouver for her job opportunity and commuted on weekends from his Vancouver home to his Winnipeg office. That arrangement showed a lack of commitment to Manitoba, but at least the hydro utility had Mr. Thomson’s full attention when he was actually in the city.

No one should begrudge Mr. Pallister a vacation period each year. People in positions of leadership are usually provided healthy vacation packages to compensate for the heavy workload. As well, no one should criticize the premier for needing time to reconnect with his family, particularly given his undoubtedly intensive schedule. And there are few who would critique the premier for deciding his years in retirement won’t be spent shovelling sidewalks or navigating snowplows, but instead in the warmth of a Central American paradise. But we need an all-season premier, not a snowbird.