Kinew presents vision, issues financial warning in first throne speech By: Danielle Da Silva Posted: 1:42 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 Last Modified: 7:00 PM CST Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 Updates

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Premier Wab Kinew issued a hopeful message that Manitoba’s health-care, affordability and societal woes can be overcome in his government’s first throne speech, while warning the province’s purse strings will be tightening in pursuit of a balanced budget.

Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville delivered the opening address of the 43rd legislature on Tuesday, outlining the broad strokes of the Kinew government’s legislative agenda for the session.

“There is optimism in our province, for it is a new day in Manitoba,” Neville said, reading the speech to a packed chamber at the Legislative Building.

“Manitobans elected our government to bring people together to solve the challenges we face as a province: from record wait times for health care, to rising costs for families and a homelessness crisis that is visible across the province.”

As with past ceremonies hosted by the NDP government, events surrounding the throne speech included Indigenous traditions and performances, featuring the Whitehorse Drum Group and Métis fiddlers Morgan Grace and Keith Ginther.

“Our team is really focused on bringing people together from different walks of life here in Manitoba to live together as one province, as one people and as one Manitoba,” Kinew told reporters during a news conference ahead of the speech.

• Read the full text of the throne speech (PDF)

The throne speech also confirmed the NDP government’s intention to pass legislation to pause the 14-cents-per-litre provincial gas tax; to make Sept. 30 a statutory holiday recognizing Orange Shirt Day — the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation; and to recognize Louis Riel as the first premier of Manitoba.

Kinew said he wants to see the legislation pass before the house rises for the winter break on Dec. 7.

The speech also placed heavy emphasis on the government’s plans to deliver a “new vision” for health care that includes improved emergency-room wait times, increased surgical slates and robust seniors and long-term care.

“Instead of more agency nurses, we will give nurses more agency,” Neville read from the speech. “Instead of closing emergency rooms, we will bring emergency rooms closer.”

The government benches led the chamber in applauding parts of the speech; the Opposition Progressive Conservatives refrained from clapping.

The throne speech reiterated some of the NDP’s campaign commitments and emphasized the need for continued growth of a low-carbon economy, and included the announcement of a government agreement with the federal Liberals to bring geothermal heat pumps to about 2,500 households in Manitoba that currently use heating oil.

The speech also attempted to lower spending expectations for the new government.

“Many commitments the previous government made did not fit within a sustainable approach to the province’s finances,” it said.

As the NDP looks toward its first budget this spring, Kinew said the province’s books are presenting a challenge. He accused the former PC government of failing to get proper budget approvals for their pre-election campaign spending blitz in the summer.

“There’s a number of initiatives that the government committed to publicly where there’s no plan to pay for them,” the premier said.

Finding the money to deliver on the NDP’s affordability promises within the existing budget will be difficult, but can be achieved, he said.

The government will also have to look at how it can continue to deliver services while making good on its election promises, including opening an emergency department at Victoria Hospital, he said.

“We’re going to begin by asking all levels of government to start to tighten their belts the same way families are tightening their belts right now,” he said.

With only so many tax dollars to go around, the province may pull back on some plans announced by the PCs prior to the election, Kinew said. So-called discretionary spending is also under the microscope.

“We’re going to begin by asking all levels of government to start to tighten their belts the same way families are tightening their belts right now.”–Wab Kinew

The $1.5 billion redevelopment of the adult bed towers at the Health Sciences Centre announced by the Tories in August is one such project being reviewed, he said.

“The previous government dramatically over-committed on the capital side to an extent that is not sustainable,” he said, adding the NDP will be looking at “what it can afford to do and when.”

Spending on core government services will not be cut, he said.

“There may be some more challenging conversations about the ‘nice-to-have’ items on the previous government’s agenda, as opposed to the ‘need-to-have items,’” Kinew said, but did not provide examples.

Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Michael Boroditsky said the province’s hospital system needs more beds, but it’s up to government to decide how it will prioritize the HSC redevelopment.

“We believe it’s important to move forward with that because it’s a major cog which will empty out some of the (emergency) beds, help with primary care,” Boroditsky said. “So, however they move forward with their priorities, we believe expanding acute-care beds is important, and the HSC towers, theoretically, would accomplish that.”

On Tuesday, Opposition Leader and recently defeated premier Heather Stefanson dismissed Kinew’s accusation her government was living beyond its means as nonsense.

She pointed to the $270-million surplus reported in the 2022-23 fiscal year as proof.

Still, Stefanson said the NDP will be hard-pressed to find the money to deliver on promises without raising taxes or cutting programs.

“The premier is going to have to make some difficult decisions if he plans to implement what is in this throne speech,” she said. “He is going to have to indicate what he is going to cut in order to implement these things.”

Stefanson said the government did not overextend itself on capital promises and initiatives were implemented only after receiving the required approvals. Parts of the HSC redevelopment were accounted for in the budget, she said.

The speech included a promise “that no government in Manitoba will ever use the families of murder victims as political props again,” which drew applause from the government benches.

The Tories campaigned against searching the Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris, who police allege were slain by an alleged serial killer.

Stefanson called the applause unusual and said it puts the lieutenant-governor in a difficult position.

“It’s inappropriate, frankly,” she said.

Cindy Lamoureux, the lone Liberal MLA and the party’s interim leader, said the throne speech was notable for what was not included — namely anti-scab legislation.

“The banning of replacement workers should have been mentioned. We need this in the province of Manitoba,” Lamoureux said. “We see it at a national level being debated, we’ve seen it introduced in other provinces and Manitoba should be taking a lead on it.”

— with files from Carol Sanders

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca