Selinger vows caution

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This article was published 18/10/2009 (5810 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s premier-designate faces a tough economic challenge as the country climbs precariously out of a recession and a high loonie batters the province’s exporters.

And with flu season approaching, there is also a potential H1N1 pandemic to worry about.

In an interview with the Free Press shortly after his victory in the NDP leadership race on Saturday, Greg Selinger admitted there could be difficult times ahead for his new administration.

"There will be reductions in (federal) transfer payments, and there will be challenges as we go forward," said Selinger, 58, who will be sworn in as premier Monday morning after receiving support from two-thirds of the delegates at Saturday’s NDP leadership convention.

"But Manitoba’s economy has been growing above the Canadian average for the last four years, so we bring a lot of strengths to the table as we meet those challenges."

Selinger said the province will stimulate the provincial economy by continuing a $4.7-billion commitment to infrastructure improvements over the next several years.

But his government will be cautious when dealing with demands for new program spending.

"I think Manitobans are pretty sensible," Selinger said. "They’re not looking for us to blow our brains out financially. They’re asking us to maintain and invest in key services and we will try to do that. But everybody is going to have to be moderate in the demands they make during tough times."

Selinger succeeds a successful premier in Gary Doer, who had the good fortune to govern mainly through good economic times. Selinger will face voters as premier on Oct. 4, 2011, according to Manitoba’s new fixed-election-date rules.

He said Saturday that he actually feels less pressure on his shoulders now than he did when he first contemplated a run for the leadership.

"I think probably the weight was greater before I decided to run. Because when you’re standing back from the process, you see all the issues and all the challenges," Selinger said.

But once he decided to take the plunge, he said he just started swimming. "So I actually feel better about it now. I’m more pumped and ready to deal with it (the responsibility of running a government) than I was before I got into the race."

Selinger said he will choose a cabinet in the next two weeks and call the legislature back for a throne speech before Christmas.

He wouldn’t discuss who would take over his old job as finance minister or how many new faces might soon sit around the cabinet table.

Several current cabinet ministers are rumoured as unlikely to run in the next election and a few may be willing to step down from their cabinet posts to make way for new blood.

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Asked about that Saturday, Selinger said: "Well, if they let me know about that, we can discuss that. That will be part of the conversations — where everybody wants to be… two years from now. We’ll sort all of that out together.

"There’s good people in caucus; there’s good people in cabinet. These are hard choices because there are a lot of talented people in that caucus," Selinger said.

Selinger, who has a PhD from the London School of Economics, was Doer’s only finance minister. He nearly became mayor of Winnipeg in 1992, losing a close vote to Susan Thompson. He moved to provincial politics in 1999, winning the St. Boniface seat.

He and his wife, Claudette Toupin, have two sons.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca