Premier’s vacation poorly timed

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/12/2016 (3395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Brian Pallister thought he had his timing down pat.

In year-end interviews, Pallister volunteered that he expected to spend up to eight weeks a year at his vacation property in Costa Rica, an estate that has been at the centre of controversy about how much time he spent out of the country while he was opposition leader. Learning from those painful mistakes, Pallister willingly described the amount of time he would devote to recreating in Central America.

There was a flurry of debate about his plans. Partisan allies and sympathizers in the electorate at large thought it was OK for the premier to spend time in Costa Rica given how hard he works and his ability to stay wired to the office while on vacation. Partisan critics and cynics in the electorate wondered aloud about how the premier would be able to fulfil all the duties of his office from a remote location that features an array of bold tropical distractions.

The debate to this point has more or less missed the point. It’s not how much time Pallister spends in Costa Rica, or whether he’s prepared to admit how much time he spends away from Winnipeg. It’s the timing.

According to sources, Pallister is in Costa Rica now, having left late last week. He will be there through Christmas, returning just before New Year’s Day. Then, back in the country for two to three weeks, before returning to his vacation property for at least a week, if not more. That means over the next two months, he will be out of the country about half the time.

Is that too much time away for a first minister who, by his own admission, works at least 60 hours a week? Probably not. But it is too much time to be away from the province right now?

The end of the December legislative session signals the start of the most important four months in any premier’s political calendar. It is during this period that premiers must do the hard work of composing a budget.

It is hard to underline the importance of the pre-budget period. This is the time when revenues must be projected, expenditures must be contained and new priorities must be vetted very carefully. It is the moment when the budget rubber meets the deficit road, and difficult decisions must be made. Which campaign promises will be fulfilled, which will be delayed and which will be abandoned altogether.

Let’s remember Pallister has set some pretty lofty goals for this next budget.

After lambasting the former NDP government for its out-of-control spending and deficit financing, the next Tory budget represents the first real chance Pallister will get to prove he can contain expenditures without harming core services or slowing an already lethargic provincial economy.

Can Pallister direct budget preparations from Costa Rica? Given modern technology, it’s certainly possible. But that’s not really the question we should be asking. The real question is — should he be trying to lead and oversee the budget while he is 4,200 kilometres away from Winnipeg? The answer is a pretty clear ‘no.’

The budget is far too important to the well-being of the province, and this is far too important a time in the formulation of that budget to have the first minister tethered to his government with a WiFi connection and a laptop computer. He is the only person in his government with experience assembling a provincial budget, and the leader of his government. His mere presence is needed more now than ever before.

Remarkably, it seems Pallister may be among the last people to realize just how important he is to the pre-budget process. He has already been absent for several important events that, under normal circumstances, would have benefited from his presence.

Consider that Pallister flew to Costa Rica just two days before Canada’s health ministers gathered with their federal counterpart for a last-ditch negotiation on the future of health transfer payments, perhaps the single biggest threat to Manitoba’s finances outside of mounting debt.

Ottawa is trying to cut the rate at which those transfers increase, while the provinces are desperate for more money. As it is, Manitoba will lose tens of millions of dollars in much-needed support for health if Ottawa does not change its mind.

At the same time this drama was unfolding, the province released its second-quarter results that show, not surprisingly, the projected deficit has gone up by nearly $100 million and is now expected to top $1 billion. Pallister was able to trim expenditures in key service areas, but a drop in revenues overwhelmed those tiny savings.

This is not evidence that Pallister is failing to get the deficit under control. It is still too early to make that judgment. However, it does prove the broader economic conditions that mired the NDP in deficit financing are still firmly in place. As much as Pallister and the Tories continue to maintain the deficits that dogged the NDP were the result of a spending problem, the most recent financial results show the real problem is very much on the revenue side.

The premier should be allowed, even encouraged, to take advantage of the fruits of a lifetime of hard work and repair to his Costa Rican estate whenever it is appropriate.

It is not, however, appropriate right now.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca