‘Change is never easy,’ Pallister says

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This article was published 10/11/2017 (2907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Looking back on his first 18 months in office, Brian Pallister says he’s not aiming to win popularity contests as his government reforms health-care services and strives to balance the province’s books.

“If it was easy, it would have got done by now. Change is never easy,” Pallister said Friday, hours after a marathon session-ending sitting that didn’t conclude until 4:12 a.m.

“Governments that worry too much about getting re-elected don’t deserve to be,” he said.

A recent Probe Research poll indicates that support for the Progressive Conservatives has fallen significantly since their election in April 2016. The PCs had the support of 36 per cent of decided voters in Manitoba in October, compared with 42 per cent in June and 53 per cent on election day.

In addition to announcing the closure of hospital ERs and scaling back some health services, Pallister has placed a hold on several capital projects and passed a bill freezing public-sector wages.

On Friday, he said he’s sympathetic to the impact of some of the changes, singling out the fact that his government’s city hospital reforms will force many workers to relocate to another facility.

“We’re taking action to make sure that we are Canada’s — at the end of our first term — most improved province in fixing the finances, in rebuilding the economy and in repairing the services,” he said.

The government passed more than 30 bills since the session began late last winter, with a flurry of them receiving final approval overnight Thursday and into the wee hours of Friday morning. A glitch in the legislature’s sound system and Opposition NDP procedural delays combined to produce the marathon session.

Among the last bills to be approved was the controversial Local Vehicles For Hire Act (Bill 30) that lays the groundwork for the introduction of ride-hailing apps such as Uber and transfers control of taxicab regulation from the province to the city.

Pallister said the change was long overdue. Manitoba was the only jurisdiction in Canada that didn’t empower municipalities to oversee the taxi industry. “The previous government didn’t have the courage to do it,” he said.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said he was proud his party was able to “broaden the conversation” on Bill 30 from a debate on whether to allow ride-hailing services to the impact of the legislation on taxi owners and their families.

“Big technology companies are going to disrupt a lot of the industries that Manitoba families rely on to put food on the table,” Kinew said. “And I think it’s fair and legitimate to allow this technology change to happen. Definitely, we do not want to stand in the way of progress. But we also want to put some conditions on these tech firms so that we can ensure that there are good jobs here in Winnipeg and Manitoba.”

Kinew said he was particularly concerned about parts of the budget implementation bill that became law early Friday. The omnibus bill contains a provision ending the guarantee that the province will share 50 per cent of city transit service operating funding.

Kinew said that could soon lead to fare hikes and cuts to service in Winnipeg. “We’re expecting that people who ride the bus in Winnipeg are going to feel a lot of pain as a result of that bill passing,” he said.

A few government bills that were introduced this session — including one that would require sport organizations to adopt return-to-play protocols for young athletes who have sustained a concussion, and another that would allow MLAs to join another party between elections — did not proceed.

Pallister said the government simply ran out of the time to deal with bills, and they will be introduced in the new session.

The third session of the 41st Manitoba legislature begins Nov. 21 with the speech from the throne.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca