Premier takes swipe at MGEU at Tory meeting

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This article was published 03/11/2018 (2765 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Premier Brian Pallister says frontline civil servants “should vote Conservative” in the next election because his government is acting in their best interests.

In an hour-long speech to the Progressive Conservative party’s annual general meeting inside Brandon’s Keystone Centre, Pallister also took a swipe at the civil service union, suggesting it was keeping dues high by spending its members’ money on attack ads against his government.

“I’m going to tell the truth… to frontline workers in the civil service, who we care about,” he said. “Here’s why you should vote Conservative in the next election — because you have better job security in a company that’s not leaking a billion dollars a year (in deficit spending). And job security for frontline workers, I think that’s the No. 1 thing.”

“This is not rocket science. If you want your union to lower union dues, then you ask them what’s the value in running those attack ads on Pallister and his government all the time.”

Pallister said while his government has trimmed the civil service by eight per cent since forming government more than two years ago. It did so “at the top,” focussing on management positions as opposed to frontline staff.

Without mentioning the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union by name, he suggested that its membership dues were higher than they need to be because of its spending on political ads.

“This is not rocket science. If you want your union to lower union dues, then you ask them what’s the value in running those attack ads on Pallister and his government all the time,” he told the more than 400 party delegates. “Union members have every right to ask, ‘Am I getting value for all those attack ads on the radio, TV, in the mailbox?’ I would say, ‘Probably not when as you run those… our popularity rises.’”

At the party’s third AGM since winning power in 2016, Pallister departed from the interview format he had previously employed to address delegates — in which a staffer lobbed friendly questions at him — for a traditional speech, which was at times folksy, stressing his humble rural roots, and at other times fiery and passionate. 

Without mentioning Cliff Graydon by name, the premier appeared to defend the recent ouster of the Emerson MLA from the PC caucus.

“We have taken the most aggressive and ambitious steps in the country… on ending harassment in the workplace of any province in Canada,” he said.

“It is a difficult issue. It’s difficult because old habits die hard. I grew up on a farm surrounded by men. I played sports with men. All the time around guys. I have had to learn how to change and grow. We all do.

“If you think that I’m being too hard, I want to ask you this question: ‘What would you say if it was your daughter? What would you say if it was your sister? What would you say if it was your grand-daughter.’ It’s got to stop. It’s got to stop,” he said to applause.

Pointing to recent polling that shows PC support is on the rise, with 44 per cent of the decided vote in Manitoba, compared with 25 per cent for the NDP and 20 per cent for the Liberals, Pallister contended the party’s base is growing because of its accomplishments.

He attacked the federal government for its carbon tax policy and its failure to maintain health care transfers to provinces at previous levels.

Pallister spent several minutes of his hour-long address repeating his government’s grievances against Ottawa over its carbon tax and lambasting the feds for giving breaks to eastern Canadians that it refuses to give to Manitoba.

He was especially dismissive of the federal plan to rebate revenues from the carbon tax in the form of tax credits to Manitobans.

“…don’t believe Ottawa when they say they’re going to spin straw into gold and give you back your money either. Boy, let me tell you, P.T. Barnum would be proud of that line,” he said.

Turning his attention to the provincial NDP, he called the previous government’s decision to reroute a northern transmission line — adding hundreds of miles to its length and greatly expanding its cost — the “greatest scandal in Manitoba history.”

 larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca