MGEU releases answers to election questionnaire

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This article was published 06/04/2016 (3778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The Liberals will continue to fund the Manitoba Development Centre; the NDP has committed to not cutting any public-sector jobs; while the Manitoba Tories will move to allow self-regulation of paramedics.

All three pledges are contained in a new 11-question survey of the main political parties seeking votes in the provincial election that is being made public today by the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union.

MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky said this survey is something the MGEU has done for decades during each provincial election and is a way to help the 14,000 members of the MGEU decide who to vote for.

“We’re trying to give our members the best information out there (on the election),” said Gawronsky.

The NDP, PC Party and Liberals provided answers to each question and those answers are provided in full in the two-page flyer. It is by no means a complete accounting of each party platform but does provide a decent synopsis of the parties’ positions on a wide-range of issues including home care, taxes, privatizing social services, jail overcrowding and the troubled child welfare system.

A lot of the answers are quite vague, and in many instances, it’s easy to tell what topics parties don’t want to be asked about.

The Tories, for example, ignored answering a question about the future of the Manitoba Development Centre in Portage la Prairie. The MGEU, which represents 283 workers at the centre, wants it to stay open. There has long been a push to close the centre from community groups, but the NDP has resisted, instead slowly letting the centre atrophy by no longer admitting new residents. In the survey, the NDP stops short of saying it will close it but does say work is ongoing to find community living arrangements or possibly move patients to a “comparable facility.” The Liberals simply pledged to continue to fund the MDC, which Gawronsky said was a big positive for that party with the MGEU.

“That’s huge for our membership,” she said.

Meanwhile, you’d have no idea where the Tories stand on it, since their 140-word answer doesn’t mention the MDC at all, instead talking about overall job losses in the province, the wage gap in Manitoba compared to other parts of the country, and the need to attract new investments.

Gawronsky said the MGEU is most pleased with the Tories for promising self-regulation for paramedics, something the NDP has been very reluctant to do, and is vague about it in its response to the question in the survey.

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“The NDP have been a bit of a disappointment to our members on that,” she said.

From the NDP, the MGEU was most happy about the commitment to not cut public services. Gawrosnky said the other two parties responded with vague answers that could be worrisome to government workers.

Earlier this year, the province’s 14,000 civil servants agreed to a new labour deal that includes a no-layoff clause.

The MGEU does not endorse any party. The entire survey is online at www.mgeu.ca today. The provincial election is April 19.  

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca