Premier says jobs allotted on merit, not gender or ethnicity

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This article was published 19/05/2016 (3451 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Merit rules in Manitoba, not other factors like gender or ethnocultural background, Premier Brian Pallister declared repeatedly as the Conservative mantra Thursday.

Again, interim NDP leader Flor Marcelino hoped to strike gold in Question Period by painting the Tories as an exclusionary, white, Anglophone, male-dominated party. She demanded on Thursday that Pallister explain why there are no women on the treasury board.

Pallister didn’t budge.

“Manitobans have chosen to elect a record number of women (eight) to the Conservative caucus,” the premier said.

Jobs get assigned on merit, said Pallister.

Which brought heckling from MLA Wab Kinew (NDP-Fort Rouge): “They don’t have merit,” he said.

Pallister said he’s raised two daughters to believe they have every right to equal opportunity, but they will succeed only on their values and their abilities to contribute to society.

Sighed Marcelino: “The premier doesn’t get it when it comes to supporting women.”

Matt Wiebe (NDP-Concordia) challenged Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen three times to outline specifically whom the government defines as a front-line worker, the public employees the Conservatives have promised to protect as they search for waste, duplication, and efficiencies.

“We’ll ensure the system is protected” and respected, replied Goertzen.

Andrew Swan (Minto) again accused Pallister of not disclosing, in his conflict-of-interest form, his ownership of properties in Costa Rica registered there as corporations. “Does he simply believe he doesn’t have to follow the laws of Manitoba?” asked Swan.

Back came Goertzen with a salvo of previous NDP failures to disclose the severance paid to former political staff, the use of civil servants for political purposes, and Swan’s failure to disclose he’d received free Winnipeg Jets’ tickets.

Rookie MLA Cindy Lamoureux (L-Burrows) got a much more civil reception, but nothing closer to an answer, when she advocated volunteer community-based youth justice committees to reduce youth crime. The government looks forward to listening to and working with anyone, said Justice Minister Heather Stefanson.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca