NDP to face tough questions in fall session

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This article was published 06/11/2014 (4231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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A wounded Premier Greg Selinger and his revamped cabinet will face the legislature Nov. 20, but it’s anybody’s guess whether it will be business as usual for the NDP government.

Government house leader Steve Ashton announced the dates of the fall sitting Wednesday following a three-hour cabinet meeting.

The premier and his ministers kept a low profile Wednesday, as did the five rebels who resigned from Selinger’s inner circle Monday.

Ashton said the recall of the legislature — the house will sit for two weeks before rising Dec. 4 — is proof the government is focusing on the priorities of Manitobans in the face of the NDP’s inner turmoil.

“(The) clear message here: We were elected to govern, and we are governing,” the longtime MLA from Thompson told reporters, as his cabinet colleagues slipped out a second door. “It really is business as usual.”

Paul Thomas, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Manitoba, says he has serious doubts the government can truly govern as though nothing has happened.

Good, effective government requires that there be internal party debate, disagreement and even conflict, Thomas said. But the players need to do it in a constructive way, and they need to trust one another, he added.

“You can’t sit around a cabinet room or a caucus room and be looking across at a colleague and think, ‘Well, what’s her motivation for saying that? Is she trying to get into Selinger’s good books or is she part of a campaign to unseat him?’ “

The cabinet ministers who resigned Monday — Jennifer Howard, Theresa Oswald, Erin Selby, Stan Struthers and Andrew Swan — have suggested there are others within the NDP’s inner circle and caucus who share their view Selinger must resign as leader. Some insiders have said as many as half would like to see the premier step down.

Ashton, who was named house leader to replace Swan, said cabinet spent much of its time Wednesday discussing the timing and content of the throne speech, which sets out the government’s agenda for the coming year.

“I think you’re going to see the degree to which we are not only governing but (that) we have a very ambitious vision for this province,” he said.

Ashton would not comment on the mood of the cabinet, which now consists of 18 members, compared with 19 before the resignations. Nor would he respond directly to the results of a poll for the Free Press that showed most Manitobans want the premier to resign. The same poll placed NDP support in Winnipeg at a meagre 30 per cent.

“I have seen over the years that polls come and go,” he said. “Our government is keeping calm, we’re carrying on. We’re going into session, and we will be accountable to the people of Manitoba through the legislative session…”

Manitoba’s opposition parties said it’s about time the government recalled the legislature, which has not met since late June. Progressive Conservative House Leader Kelvin Goertzen said “it’s not going to be easy” in just two weeks to deal substantively with such important issues as poor education scores, wasteful government spending and Manitoba’s uncompetitive tax structure.

The PCs have been asking the government to unveil its fall legislative calendar since spring, Goertzen said. He said the fact it only set dates for the brief fall sitting on Wednesday is telling.

“It’s indicative of the fact that this is not a government that is able to govern,” Goertzen said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca