Stefanson sticks to script in state of province speech

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This article was published 19/05/2023 (867 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson delivered a state of the province address Thursday that seemed both a defence of her government’s time in office and a soft launch for her re-election campaign.

Many of Stefanson’s partisan comments to the Brandon Chamber of Commerce gathering echoed those made to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce in December, touching on subjects such as taxation and Manitoba Hydro.

Fewer words were spent on health care, though the premier highlighted expansion work underway at the Brandon Regional Health Centre and the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre.

“When I get up in the morning, I’m thinking about how we can grow the economy, to create jobs so that we have the freedom and flexibility to lower taxes and invest in health care, education, justice and social services,” Stefanson said.

“The other parties would pay for public services by raising taxes, not by growing the economy. They’ve done it before, and they’ll do it again.”

Other accusations levied at the opposition (the 2023 election is expected Oct. 3) included assertions they would defund police and open safe drug injection sites — which the premier claimed have failed in “city after city” — and Stefanson continued to take aim at the federal government’s carbon tax.

No new announcements were made, but the premier highlighted her government’s investments in Brandon, such as funding for upgrades at the municipal water treatment plant, a new five-year joint funding agreement between the city and the province for the Keystone Centre, $1.2 million for an expansion of the child care facilities at the Brandon YMCA, $2 million announced for the construction of a sobering centre, and plans to build a new francophone school.

Funding for the sobering centre was first announced in July 2021, with little information about the project since.

In December, representatives from the Community Wellness Collaborative told Brandon city council $2 million was not sufficient to both build and operate a sobering centre, pointing to the almost $9 million the province is spending to help build a new detention centre for the Brandon Police Service that will have room for just 17 detainees.

After Thursday’s event concluded, reporters pressed Stefanson for a response to a recent delegation to the Brandon School Division board of trustees calling for the banning of books discussing gender identity and sexual health.

While the premier said she condemns “any kind of a hate crime or any kind of criminal activity” against anyone, including people in the LGBTTQ+ community, she stopped short of denouncing the presentation.

“We believe in local autonomy when it comes to school divisions and school trustees making those decisions… At the same time, I believe in inclusivity, I believe in making sure our kids feel safe being taught in our schools — but this is a decision to be made at the local level.”

NDP Leader Wab Kinew, speaking to reporters at the Manitoba legislature in Winnipeg after question period, responded to the premier’s speech.

“The premier isn’t talking about the No. 1 priorities of Manitobans, which are health care and education. She had the opportunity to tell this Wesman audience about the plans to fix the damage the PCs have caused in health care, we just didn’t get the details on that,” he said.

“Our team was in Brandon within the past couple of weeks, laying out our rural health-care platform, as well as investments we want to make in Brandon and the surrounding region. We’ve got a plan to fix health care after years of PC cuts.”

In additional comments to the Sun by phone, Kinew denied Stefanson’s claim his party wants to defund police.

On the book ban topic, he said: “The leader of the province should be able to just clearly say that she is opposed to banning books because they have (LGBTTQ+) content.”

— Brandon Sun, with files from Danielle Da Silva