Editorial: Gerrard wakes up election

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/09/2011 (5162 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Until yesterday, there was little in the Manitoba Liberal Party’s election platform to get people all excited — no huge spending commitment, no visionary idea. The pledges held largely to incremental increases for laudable policy priorities. But tucked into the book of promises released Wednesday by Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard is a promise to expand the legislature by four seats, filled solely by an aboriginal vote.

To date, Dr. Gerrard has been presenting a cautious, even conservative, platform of program enhancements and policy items dear to the physician-MLA’s heart — screening young children for cognitive disabilities such as FASD, moving non-emergency health matters from the emergency ward line, taking hospitals off “global” funding budgets and helping diabetics, the mentally ill and the addicted get care faster. All eminently sensible.

But making a cameo appearance on Page 18 is another showstopper: to open discussions about sharing natural resources revenues with aboriginal people. First Nations have demanded this for years but no government has approached the discussion, which would mark a sea change in interpretation of treaty obligations — obligations that exist between First Nations and the federal government.

There is less than two weeks for Dr. Gerrard to explain his proposals — put meat on these bones of controversial ideas that hold real implications for the democratic process and the way the province provides services.

The bulk of the platform is cautious and refreshing. The Liberals do not attempt to “solve” Winnipeg’s crime problem by hiring dozens more cops. They do not vow to hire thousands more nurses and doctors, although opening urgent-care facilities beside emergency wards implies adding bodies.

A platform predicated on restraint has certain appeal — a Liberal government would spend $200 million more in its first year — given that the treasury is groaning under the weight of spending trends that neither the NDP nor the Progressive Conservatives have seen fit to renounce.

The Liberals’ big money items include flood protection by increasing the water retention capacity across the land to mitigate damage during floods. The question is how to convince farmers to take valuable land out of production given that such programs offered over the last decade have proved largely unattractive. There are more breaks on tuition, much of which plays to middle-class families who already manage to send their youth to college or university.

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The biggest ticket of all is rapid transit for Winnipeg, costing $44 million in each of four years. Overall, the plan contrasts with those of the NDP and Conservatives, both of whom are casting taxpayers’ money about in an up-the-ante competition.

The Liberal proposal to reserve aboriginal-elected-only seats in the legislature — something New Zealand has done — is as close to a game-changer as has been heard in this election. The Liberals hold little chance of forming government and Dr. Gerrard’s speculation about holding the balance of power would require a dramatic shift in the party’s popular support that polls have yet to reflect. Still, throwing a bit of excitement into an otherwise drab campaign should wake a somnolent electorate up to the fact there’s an election happening. That’s a good thing.