NDP unleashes bill blitz; 28 pieces of legislation introduced on single day

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This article was published 06/03/2025 (285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Kinew government dropped 28 bills at once on Thursday in a bid to speed up its ambitious legislative agenda for 2025.

Members of the NDP caucus took turns introducing a lengthy list of proposed legislation that aims to protect the universal school nutrition program, bolster tenant rights and increase reporting on P3 projects, among other changes.

Government house leader Nahanni Fontaine said she was proud of her strategy to table as much as possible within the first days of the spring sitting.

“We’ve shown Manitobans in the last 24 hours some pretty phenomenal legislation and shown, in real tangible ways, that we’ve been working really hard,” Fontaine told reporters Thursday.

The NDP caucus introduced a total of 37 bills this week because members are mindful of deadlines and “want to make sure those bills get passed,” she said.

Fontaine accused the official Opposition of wasting time with “fictitious matters of privilege” during the last sitting.

The Progressive Conservatives did not host a news conference to respond to the bills.

Six of the bills were tabled by Education Minister Tracy Schmidt.

Bill 17 requires each public school to run a nutrition program tailored to local students’ needs and penalizes future legislators who scrap breakfast, lunch or snack programs.

“It stipulates that cabinet members will be subject to a 20 per cent cut in ministerial salary if a bill is passed to reduce or repeal Nello’s Law,” Schmidt told the chamber.

The Public Schools Amendment Act (Nutrition Equality for Lasting Learning Outcomes) has been nicknamed in memory of former education minister Nello Altomare, who rolled out the meal program before he died on Jan. 14.

Asked about the constitutionality of the penalties, the new minister, who is a lawyer, said the document was drafted with legislative counsel advice.

Schmidt also noted the Tories’ balanced budget legislation outlines retribution for a government that runs a deficit.

“I personally can’t imagine a government in the future that would want or would be able to justify not feeding hungry kids,” she added.

In a statement Thursday, Nathan Martindale, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, called the bill “promising” at first glance.

The minister of public service delivery had a lengthy list of legislation, ranging from a ban on restrictive covenants, which allow a grocery store owner to draw a map around their site and eliminate competitors, to making sure the province prioritizes Canadian suppliers when making purchases.

Mintu Sandhu also previewed Bill 25 to provide Manitobans with more information when public entities enter a public-private partnership, also known as a P3, to complete a capital project of any kind.

Future P3s would involve preliminary analysis, public consultation and the appointment of an external consultant to act as a “fairness monitor,” per the Public-Private Partnership Transparency and Accountability Act.

Bills 10 and 32 both update the Residential Tenancies Act. The former aims to better support tenants who are displaced through no fault of their own — for instance, during a government-mandated evacuation. The latter helps landlords evict tenants who are engaged in drug or human trafficking faster.

Bill 28 ends a longtime practice at Manitoba Hydro to approve large grid connections on a first-come, first-served basis.

“For far too long, important economic development opportunities have been stalled by the first-come, first-served approach,” Finance Minister Adrian Sala said in support of an update that favours the wider economic benefits of an applicant’s project over timeliness.

On the subject of Indigenous education, Schmidt brought in legislation backing new immersion streams and requiring school divisions to establish policies on land and treaty acknowledgements.

Bill 39 mandates trustee candidates to report on their campaign donations, cap contributions and prohibit people who live outside of Manitoba from making any financial contributions to influence an election.

Also Thursday, Schmidt said the province is doing away with dusty regulations about religious exercises and playing the royal anthem at the start or end of every school day.

The Schools Patriotic Observances Regulation has not been enforced in 25 years, but its existence has come into question in recent weeks.

Jason Gryba, who chairs the board of trustees in the Mountain View School Division, requested God Save the King be played in Dauphin-area classrooms in January to adhere to it.

Critics have condemned its sudden and unexplained revival over concerns it celebrates colonialism and disregards related harms inflicted upon Indigenous families.

The Transcona byelection to fill the seat left vacant by Altomare and subsequent blackout rules tempered the promotion of MLA bills.

The province initially declined to immediately disclose the contents of all the new bills, but several were posted online Thursday afternoon.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca