Shuffle creates opportunity for reset

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/01/2022 (1751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One year ago today, then-premier Brian Pallister shuffled portfolios and ministers in a mid-course, pandemic reset. Premier Heather Stefanson announced she will soon be doing the same following the sudden, mysterious departure of former infrastructure minister Ron Schuler.

But in her case, she needs to reshuffle her cabinet for a mid-course, re-election reset.

“Give me better wood and I will make you a better cabinet,” Canada’s first prime minister once said. Stefanson has no such latitude. Indeed, she will be choosing from amongst a cabinet and caucus from which perhaps up to a dozen MLAs may not be seeking re-election. Any consideration of “better wood” will have to await a very uncertain 2023 provincial election.

To date, the new premier has concentrated on style over substance in highlighting her own path. A cabinet shuffle is the perfect opportunity to right this balance. She should use it to showcase a new going-forward agenda for the province as she makes her re-election case.

Perhaps a lesson from the Pallister government is in order: on this date last year, a new, stand-alone department of mental health, wellness, and recovery was created; the first of its kind in Manitoba and Canada. Rising and enduring mental-health concerns were already presenting from the pandemic; a pre-emptive move was considered necessary to prepare for the inevitable onslaught — one that will become even more acute in this province, given the deep addictions and substance abuse already present.

It was a foresight-driven move that Stefanson can now emulate in three specific areas where the pandemic has highlighted the need for dedicated cabinet action: early learning, Indigenous health and infrastructure.

First, create a new department of Education and Early Learning to improve the transition from early learning to school.

The historic five-year, $1.2-billion Canada-Manitoba child-care deal announced in August offers the basis for an expanded approach to early learning. Early-learning experts from the McCain-Mustard report of 1999 to the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have long recommended closer integration of child care with educational outcomes.

Expanding the role of the education department to cover early learning would formalize that link and reinforce the pedagogical benefits of child care as a government priority as this new investment rolls out. Manitoba is one of only four provinces that shares child care and early learning responsibilities across two departments. Combining them in a revitalized department of Education and Early Learning would match the mission to the moment.

Second, create an Indigenous Health Secretariat to improve health outcomes for Manitoba’s Indigenous peoples.

COVID-19 has more severely affected Indigenous persons compared to other populations. In the third wave, for example, more than 16 per cent of cases were identified as Indigenous persons, despite their representing only 13 per cent of Manitoba’s total population. Determinants of health such as lower incomes and poorer housing were contributing factors.

Pre-existing health conditions remain a source of lower life expectancy and quality of life for Indigenous Peoples. Barriers to appropriate health services marred the early vaccination rollout. While the pandemic reinforced what was already there, the inevitable health-system fix must now take this into account. A good start would be to create a new Indigenous Health Secretariat to begin the long, necessary work of identifying and acting on systemic barriers, programs and service delivery changes leading to better health outcomes.

Third, establish a new special operating agency (SOA) called Infrastructure Manitoba as part of a long-term strategic infrastructure vision for stronger post-pandemic economic growth.

Infrastructure responsibility is currently fragmented across several departments. Budgets and expenditures do not align well. Infrastructure money goes unspent at a cost to taxpayers through increased borrowing. Private-sector partners experience too much uncertainty for project management incurring additional costs.

Creating a SOA model fits with the principles set out in the OECD’s 2020 report on infrastructure good governance. A new Infrastructure Manitoba agency would produce multi-year investment plans guaranteed by the province, facilitating private-sector and municipal planning. It would foster a smoother, stable and more predictable financing and regulatory process to move projects along on time and on budget, without political interference.

By operating outside government, it would allow the province to hire desperately needed engineering and project-management expertise at remuneration competitive with the private sector.

Each of these areas is central to Manitoba’s social and economic development. Each responds to lessons from the pandemic. Each indicates a new agenda.

Each would be strong new timber to frame a new Stefanson cabinet.

David McLaughlin was Clerk of the Executive Council in the government of Manitoba in 2020-21. He was campaign manager for the PC Party of Manitoba in the 2016 and 2019 elections.