Province nixes MPI’s road fixes

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/06/2013 (4581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Selinger government has killed a controversial plan by Manitoba Public Insurance to use ratepayers’ money to fix up streets and highways to improve safety.

Attorney General Andrew Swan, the minister responsible for MPI, said he recently told the board of the Crown auto insurer to shelve the idea.

“I’ve asked them and they’ve agreed not to proceed at this time,” Swan said Friday. The MPI board met Thursday and Friday in Brandon.

“We know that spending money on infrastructure is absolutely essential. We think that the public expects a lot of clarity and a lot of transparency on how infrastructure money is being spent.”

Swan said since MPI started putting together what it calls the Roadway Infrastructure Investment Partnership (RIIP) program, Ottawa has announced the creation of the new Building Canada Fund that will funnel infrastructure dollars Manitoba’s way for road repairs and other projects. The expired deal saw Ottawa put $576 million into Manitoba infrastructure projects over five years.

He said the province also has its new Manitoba Building and Renewal Plan that was announced in the recent budget that is to see revenue from the one-percentage-point hike in the provincial sales tax put $3 billion into the plan over the next decade.

“I gave my opinion to MPI that this probably wasn’t the right environment for MPI to be out there doing its own thing with municipalities,” Swan said. “The board has actually agreed. With the federal announcement and our decision to match that and to make sure we don’t lose any federal dollars, I think it’s better for infrastructure to be done by the Department of Infrastructure and Transportation.”

Opposition Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister said the NDP made the correct decision — and the only one it could have made.

“Clearly, the NDP does not need to open up another front on the infrastructure debate,” he said. “Their lack of planning, their lack of focus in terms of infrastructure investment and so on has become more and more apparent to people through this debate.”

Pallister also said if MPI were to get into the road-repair business, it would virtually compete against the province’s own Infrastructure and Transportation Department. “Duplication and overlap would be the result,” he said.

MPI is on the verge of filing next year’s rate application with the Manitoba Public Utilities Board. Earlier this year, the arm’s-length rate regulator told MPI it wanted to hear the details of the RIIP when hearings start in the fall. To date, those details have been under wraps, but critics such as the PCs have already labelled it a “backdoor” tax increase.

Money for the program, which could include rumble strips or new merging lanes, would have come out of basic insurance premiums.

‘I’ve asked (MPI) and they’ve agreed not to proceed at this time’

— Attorney General Andrew Swan

The NDP’s decision to kill the RIIP means it will not be considered by the PUB.

Swan said when new construction programs for streets and highways are identified, road safety will be included in the planning with MPI’s advice.

What the province’s decision means in terms of future Autopac rates or perhaps another rebate — the last one was two years ago — is unknown as that’s a decision to be made by the PUB after it examines MPI’s finances and outlook.

In late 2011, the PUB ordered MPI to drop its overall rates eight per cent to “instil some fiscal discipline in MPI’s operations.”

Last year, the PUB approved an MPI application to freeze rates for 2013.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca