Getting noticed in the throne speech is a win, but it only goes so far

Opinion

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This article was published 21/11/2023 (682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It wasn’t the most prominent section of the new NDP government’s throne speech Tuesday.

In fact, the pledge to grow and invest in “the creative sector” could easily have been missed by most observers as they scanned the many references to health care, affordability, reconciliation for Indigenous people and growing the economy.

However, for those who toil in the creative sector, the brief reference is reason for modest celebration.

Throne speeches, which precede the start of a new session of the Manitoba legislature, can be easily dismissed or even ignored as a triumph of pomp and circumstance over substance. However, anyone who relies heavily on government funding knows much different.

A throne speech is, in parliamentary tradition, an opportunity for the government to express its broad intentions for the legislative session. It’s a major way to signal to special interests that they are on the government’s radar.

Think of it as a game of musical chairs. The speech starts and if your sector or issue gets mentioned, you get to sit down. If the speech ends without a reference to your sector or issue, you’re left without a chair and — possibly — on the outside of the government’s agenda.

That’s why for people in cultural industries, the reference to the “creative sector” was so important. The NDP did include this pledge in its recent election campaign. Even so, anyone who works in cultural industries no doubt appreciated seeing this one item make the transition from campaign plank to government promise.

It was also important because, much to my surprise, there was some trepidation in the cultural sector about the prospect of an NDP government.

I’ll flash back to a conversation earlier this year with someone who is in a very senior position with one of Manitoba’s largest arts organizations, who wanted to know which party I thought was going to win the October election.

I traditionally do not utter definitive predictions for elections, not in a column and certainly not in conversation. At the time of the conversation, the NDP was leading the Progressive Conservatives by a healthy margin. I suggested that it looked good for the NDP but I thought there were scenarios in which the Tories could win.

Then, I asked my source if they were looking forward to the possibility of an NDP win. I was surprised at the answer.

“We’ve actually done pretty well under the (Progressive) Conservatives,” this cultural industry leader said. “In fact, we’ve done much better than we did under the NDP when they were last in power.”

I assumed, for reasons that now escape me, that the arts community would have more of a natural affinity for the NDP. Turns out that, according to multiple sources I’ve checked with more recently, the NDP has traditionally considered arts and cultural funding as an afterthought.

Put another way, arts and cultural industries have found that the NDP try to help them after they’ve attended to health care and social services and managing fiscal issues. The Tories, or so it appears, were a more open-minded audience for the cultural sector.

Can we say for sure that this is a universal truth dating back over various NDP and Tory governments? No, but for those toiling in the cultural industries, getting left out of government priorities is a very real concern. That makes the throne speech reference a win.

What other lesser-known sectors/issues were included in the throne speech?

The Kinew government singled out the Port of Churchill for attention by promising to ensure it “helps us fulfil our economic potential by making Manitoba a maritime province.”

The Wab Kinew government also tipped its agenda hat to “Manitobans living with disabilities,” and “multi-year funding for municipalities,” a welcome pledge that will end the cruel and destructive funding freeze the Tories inflicted on local governments across the province.

It should be noted that not being mentioned in the throne speech is not a death sentence. For example, the NDP did pledge during the election to establish supervised consumption sites for those suffering from substance abuse. However, it was not mentioned in the throne speech.

When asked about this, Kinew calmly acknowledged it was an election pledge and it shall be done. Exactly when, and how, we do not yet know. But its omission from the speech does not signify the issue has been forgotten.

It should also be noted that being mentioned in the speech is not necessarily the equivalent of winning the government funding lottery. The archives of this newspaper are jammed with stories about governments that failed to live up to throne speech pledges.

However, the throne speech and the NDP’s election platform will combine to become an effective tool for journalists and other observers to hold the new government to account.

Let me say this: having included a reference to the creative sector in the throne speech, the NDP government would be well advised to at least meet, if not exceed, the expectations of sector leaders.

Teasing people is not a strategy for long-term political success.

dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com