Drama will be in the house

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This article was published 06/03/2024 (667 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba MLAs return to the house today with the governing New Democrats vowing to keep their election promises while getting a grip on the $1.6-billion deficit, retaining $1 billion in Tory tax relief and balancing the budget in their first term.

“We’ve got some pretty exciting bills that are in the queue and our government is taking a new approach, a bold approach, an exciting approach after the cuts and the division that we saw with the previous PC government,” government house leader Nahanni Fontaine said Tuesday, indicating there are nearly two dozen pieces of legislation on deck.

“It’s about delivering on the commitments we made to Manitobans in rebuilding health care and, certainly, lowering costs for families and, obviously, strengthening our economy and also making our community safer,” was all she would say about the bills.

Across the aisle, interim Tory Leader Wayne Ewasko now leads the charge in question period, replacing former premier Heather Stefanson, who stepped aside in January ahead of a fall leadership race. She is expected to take her seat on the back bench Wednesday.

A new crew of Opposition critics elected in October and re-elected veterans is ready and raring to go, Ewasko said Tuesday.

“We have been working hard between the sessions to make sure we’re ready to go (Wednesday),” he said.

“We’re going to be asking some questions to the new NDP government on how they’re not only going to pay for, but uphold some of their $3 billion in election promises and what (promises) they’re going to break.”

They have their work cut out for them holding the new government to account, say political observers. The NDP will table its first budget April 2.

“There’s really serious problems coming down the pipeline,” said University of Winnipeg political studies professor Malcolm Bird.

Debt held by the provincial government and Manitoba Hydro, as well as the cost of servicing it, has ballooned. As has the cost of providing services — such as recent public-sector employee pay increases — while anticipated revenues have declined, Bird said.

The $1-billion increase in federal equalization payments and health transfers to the province this year can’t be counted on in years to come, he said.

“It will be very interesting to see what happens April 2 and what this government plans on doing, budget-wise,” Bird said.

“They plan on balancing the budget, but I really don’t know how exactly that’s going to work.”

Neither does the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“We need to remove the rose-coloured glasses here,” said Manitoba director Molly McCracken.

The NDP promises to balance the budget in its first term while fixing health care and reversing austerity measures that were imposed by the previous Tory government so early in its mandate isn’t possible or prudent, she said Tuesday.

“A more moderate approach would be to delay balancing the budget and progressively raise revenues,” McCracken said.

“We hope this government does not balance the budget at the expense of the public services we all rely upon.”

University of Manitoba adjunct political studies professor Christopher Adams said the spring sitting will be defined by the NDP’s first budget, and by putting its stamp on the fiscal blueprint by distancing itself from the Tories.

“I expect this budget will not be just a carry-over budget from last year,” Adams said.

“They’ve been quick to make their mark in the province.”

After the session began Nov. 21 and before breaking for holidays Dec. 7, the NDP passed three pieces of legislation: the Louis Riel Act to honour Riel as Manitoba’s first premier; a bill making Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a statutory holiday; and the Fuel Tax Amendment Act (Fuel Tax Holiday) that suspended the 14-cent per litre provincial gas tax for at least six months, starting Jan. 1.

Those bills and major announcements on health care over recent months indicate strong momentum for the NDP, said Adams, a longtime political observer.

In its first throne speech, the Kinew government set out to fix the health-care system, provide free prescription birth control, a universal school nutrition program and create an independent seniors advocate.

It promised to “re-balance” labour relations after a summer of public service strikes, and has since said it’s considering legislation to ban replacement workers and make it easier for employees to join a union.

Adams said the April 2 budget will likely be bookended by bills to amend the province’s labour laws and support promised health-care reforms.

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He said the Tories would be wise to focus on the NDP’s election promises and whether the government is delivering results.

“It will be a little bit difficult for them to criticize the new government on some of the key issues, especially relating to health care, because any failures of the health-care system, the premier can defend himself saying these were problems inherited from the PCs,” Adams said.

The spring sitting will also be a chance for potential candidates in the fall PC leadership campaign to raise their public profile, he said.

— with files from Danielle Da Silva

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.