Pallister promises to transform civil service, improve child care in throne speech

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This article was published 21/11/2017 (2888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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The Pallister government says it wants to review provincial and municipal service responsibilities to reduce overlap and duplication, sparking concern from municipal leaders that they’ll be left picking up the tab.

In its throne speech Tuesday, the province said it will examine areas such as road maintenance and renewal, snow clearing, water control and drainage in order to “streamline service delivery.”

Asked if the city of Winnipeg might expect to be handed more responsibilities as a result of the review, Premier Brian Pallister said, “That’s a real possibility.”

He cited as an example the province’s recent move to transfer taxicab governance to the city.  

“We need to take a look at where municipalities can shine and where they can do things effectively and well. And we need to develop appropriate models to make sure that they’re able to do that,” Pallister said.

This year’s throne speech — the Progressive Conservatives’ third since coming to office in April 2016 — contained no pricey promises, focusing on incremental improvements to services and the need for the government to get its finances in order.

Among the speech’s highlights were plans to modernize the provincial bureaucracy, launch a new child-care strategy and better protect whistleblowers working in the provincial government.

Mayor Brian Bowman, who will deliver Winnipeg’s budget today, said he is concerned about the possible off-loading of provincial responsibilities onto the city.

He said he is worried that the province will act unilaterally, as it did with its decision to stop the 50-50 cost-sharing of transit services, rather than collaborate with municipalities.

“We don’t want to have decisions dictated and then downloaded on Winnipeg taxpayers,” Bowman said, while lamenting that the throne speech was silent on such city priorities as support for its accelerated regional roads rejuvenation plan, and the creation of a predictable long-term funding formula for municipalities.

Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton said municipalities had raised concerns to the province about service duplication, but he was vague on where governments might save money and reduce overlap. 

“Municipalities are out cutting grass; we’re cutting grass. These are things we can look at together,” he said, citing one broad example.

Asked if municipalities would be compensated for carrying out any new duties, Wharton said: “Those are the discussions we need to have. It’s a partnership.”

In a press briefing before the throne speech, read by Lt.-Gov. Janice Filmon in the legislature, Pallister said he wants to revitalize — not just reduce the size — of the provincial civil service.

The province has already announced it will eliminate 1,200 positions, mainly through attrition, within three years as part of its bid to reduce its operating deficit. In the throne speech, it said it would continue to target jobs within the province’s management ranks. 

“There’s an opportunity for us to build a better, more functioning, more cohesive civil-service team,” Pallister said. “It’s not just about changing the size of the team. It’s about getting the most that you can out of your team.”

According to the throne speech, the government will develop “a new public-service transformation strategy” that will “challenge public servants to better understand and meet the needs of citizens, question past practices and experiment with innovative ideas…”

Prodded about the government’s intentions, Pallister said he wants the provincial civil service to be a place where people want to work. He said that with an aging workforce, there are opportunities to introduce new, innovative ideas.

“As folks retire, we have an opportunity to revise our civil service and make sure it’s a place that attracts people who want to come and work in a fun and productive environment,” the premier said.

Manitoba Government and General Employees Union president Michelle Gawronsky said she wants to hear details from Pallister right away on how he would transform the public service.

“It was a surprise to hear it,” Gawronsky said. “Let Manitobans know… It’s scary to me — the civil service, last year alone, lost 700 people.”

CUPE Manitoba president Terry Egan was also skeptical about Pallister’s vague plans to transform the civil service. “I can see he’d like to make major cuts again. “What he was talking about, I think, he wants to privatize everything.”

According to the throne speech, the government will launch a new Early Learning and Child Care Strategy with initiatives to create new child-care spaces and reduce waits.

“Legislation will reduce red tape for early childhood educators, focus on partnerships with other levels of government, traditional and home-based service providers, businesses/employers, schools, rural and northern communities,” the speech says. “It will introduce new incentives for private investments in child-care spaces.”

Opposition Leader Wab Kinew said he’s concerned about planned job cuts in the health sector as well as in the public service.

“We’re hearing him talk about streamlining the relationship with municipalities,” Kinew said of Pallister. “It sounds to me like they’re going to try to justify more cuts to the city, even beyond what we’ve heard in this past week in terms of cuts to transit, cuts to the infrastructure money that’s going to the city.”

Kinew said he’s also concerned about some aspects of a government plan, first reported by the Free Press, to remove disincentives from foster parents becoming legal guardians. 

Kinew said he will be monitoring promised amendments to the Child and Family Services Act to ensure they don’t stand in the way of Indigenous kids remaining in Indigenous communities.

– with files from Nick Martin

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

 

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