Tory budget highlights crackdown on crime

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This article was published 07/03/2023 (914 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba budget appeals to fears about rising violent crime by touting a tough-on-crime approach with more than $50 million earmarked to expand policing.

“We all want to feel safe in our homes, on our streets and in our communities,” said Finance Minister Cliff Cullen as he unveiled his budget for 2023-24 on Tuesday.

“Safer streets” is listed among the province’s four overarching spending priorities — alongside “healing health care,” “stronger communities” and “opportunities ahead.”

Cullen revealed the government’s new violent crime strategy will include spending $51.8 million on law enforcement initiatives over the next two years.

“Manitoba needs a balanced approach that addresses the root causes of crime while also getting tough on violent crime and violent criminals.”

In total, $34.6-million will be set aside for 2023-24, including $3.2 million to establish a high-risk apprehension team to track down violent offenders with outstanding warrants and $1.4 million to hire more Crown attorneys to address a backlog of firearms-related offences. Both measures had been announced before Tuesday’s budget.

The remaining amount will be doled out to the Winnipeg Police Service and other independent law enforcement agencies in the province. Details have yet to be released.

Premier Heather Stefanson told reporters to “stay tuned.” While noting the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened challenges related to crime and poverty, Stefanson indicated her government intends to take a “collaborative approach” to find solutions.

As part of the crackdown on crime, officials indicated they will continue to lobby the federal government to change the Criminal Code to make it tougher for violent offenders to get bail.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen is expected to go to Ottawa later this week to push the issue with colleagues from other provinces.

The executive director of the Social Planning Council made note of the fact that officials did not once mention “restorative justice” in plans to prevent and address crime.

“Restorative justice should actually be our go-to justice system, but instead, we treat it as a very small program that the lucky few get into – same thing with the mental health court, same thing with the additions court,” Kate Kehler told the Free Press.

“If you get into that stream, then you actually get the wraparound supports that you need in order to address what led you into criminal behaviour in the first place.”

At the same time, Kehler said the commitment to addressing poverty falls far short of what is necessary.

The province said it plans to spend $51 million on overnight shelters, transitional housing and rent subsidies as part of its homelessness strategy.

Manitoba Justice will record one of the largest departmental increases in funding, with overall operating expenses to rise almost 12 per cent. For comparison, the department of mental health and community wellness is expect to cost nine per cent more this coming fiscal year.

A total of $17.3 million will support the province’s road map for mental health, with an extra $9.4 million set aside to support and create 1,000 new publicly funded treatment spaces for substance use and addiction.

The Manitoba Liberals’ leader criticized the province for “linking mental health, addictions and homelessness with crime.”

“People who have mental health issues, people who have addictions and people who are homeless are much more likely to be victims of crime, not perpetrators of it. It’s absolutely disgusting to link those,” party leader Dougald Lamont said.

Rural and remote residents can expect improved access to tele-psychiatry services and more crisis unit beds, with $1 million set aside for those initiatives.

To improve access and reduce wait times for children and youth, $1.5 million will go towards improving mental health services for Manitoba’s youngest residents.

The budget formalizes the province’s commitment to working with Indigenous communities to develop a suicide prevention strategy that focuses on at-risk youth.

Gina McKay, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Manitoba branch, said social services and the employees who operate them have suffered significantly as a result of austerity measures. Cuts that have taken place since 2015 cannot be undone with Tuesday’s budget proposals, McKay said.

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Manitoba RCMP is slated to receive $10.8 million for its operations next year.

While conservation officers primarily oversee parks-related enforcement, the province will spend $650,000 to fund a central communication and dispatch system to integrate their office with the RCMP.

— With files from Danielle Da Silva

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie

Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.

Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

Every piece of reporting Maggie 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.