Tories vow to be all ears at pre-budget meeting

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This article was published 10/02/2023 (939 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The cabinet minister who will lead a provincial pre-budget consultation in Winnipeg Monday has promised to read every written submission received by the Feb. 28 deadline.

“I’ve instructed my staff that I want to read every single one of those comments. That is a promise,” Consumer Protection and Government Services Minister James Teitsma said, adding he doesn’texpect there will be more than 10,000 written submissions.

“I don’t know how long it will take — maybe a few nights, maybe a few weeks, depending on how much volume we get back.”

He encouraged Manitobans to have their say about the 2023-24 budget, due during the spring legislative session (March 1 to June 1).  

Work on the province’s financial plan for the year ahead is underway, but the current public consultation is important and has an impact, Teitsma said.

“Sometimes, there is validation of what the government is thinking should be the priorities,” he said.

“There is still tremendous opportunity through the fiscal year to make adjustments to where monies are being expended and how government conducts itself over the course of that year.”

He pointed to his government’s announcement last month to earmark $140 million for municipal projects.

“That was not something that had been determined when the budget was introduced 11 months ago,” he said. “It’s important there’s an opportunity for people to be heard and for all Manitobans to feel like they have an opportunity to speak directly to government.”

In previous years, Manitobans had an opportunity to speak directly to the finance minister.

This year, the Progressive Conservative government had to juggle its plans for pre-budget consultation after finance minister Cameron Friesen announced on Jan. 27 he was resigning to seek the federal Conservative nomination in Portage—Lisgar.

The finance portfolio was handed to veteran cabinet minister Cliff Cullen, who is not seeking re-election this year.

Rather than having Cullen lead all the public sessions, the province is taking a “whole-of-government” approach, with a number of ministers serving as a host.

Borderland MLA Josh Guenter was appointed legislative assistant to the finance minister with a major role in the pre-budget consultations.

The in-person session initially planned for Winnipeg on Jan. 30 was postponed.

On Wednesday, the government announced it will take place Feb. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the convention centre, and asked participants to register by Sunday.

Five days isn’t sufficient notice, one major health labour group countered.

“We are frustrated that the province gave such short notice for this public consultation,” said Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.

“With the current state of health care in this province, we had hoped for meaningful consultation, which is both thoughtful and planned. With under a week’s notice, this appears to be neither.”

On Thursday, he said the union is preparing a written submission with recommendations for the next budget. After five years without a contract, its top budget priority is getting a fair deal, he said.

The new finance minister’s decision to skip Monday’s pre-budget session isn’t a big deal for Winnipeg business, one leader said.

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“What matters most in any public consultation is that the public’s opinions are heard, respected and reflected in the final outcome, be it the budget or other policy documents,” said Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer Loren Remillard.

The pre-budget consultation has been around since at least 1983 when Vic Schroeder, who was an NDP finance minister, announced sessions would be held with business, labour, farm and other groups to outline the state of the national and provincial economies and seek specific advice on budget alternatives.

The government of the day was dealing with a burgeoning deficit and shrinking revenues.

Rather than eliciting opinions, the pre-budget consultation was held to make sure all sectors had a reasonable and up-to-date understanding of the challenges and concerns facing the province, Schroeder said at the time.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.