Plenty of promises to keep in 2024

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/12/2023 (626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The end of the year brings a moment, for many of us, at which we engage in a contemplative combination of assessing the previous 12 months and anticipating what might be accomplished in the next dozen.

Accomplishments are recalled, recognized and celebrated. Regrets are acknowledged, catalogued and set aside for future sleepless-night rumination. Resolutions — achievable and otherwise — are formulated, and possible pathways to success are considered and mapped out.

Most times, the reflecting and resolving are individual pursuits; sometimes, however, opportunities exist for a more communal contemplation based in shared experiences and aspirations. Such a possibility exists for the nascent NDP government and the Manitobans who elected it on Oct. 3.

Whether one views the election result as a ringing endorsement of the campaign platform laid out by (now) Premier Wab Kinew or merely an emphatic declaration by voters that the Stefanson/Pallister Progressive Conservative government had worn out its welcome, there’s no disputing that the year ahead will bring marked changes to the style and substance of Manitoba politics.

It might fairly be said then-candidate Kinew made, and made public, his New Year’s resolutions a few months early, in the form of promises he made to Manitobans in his effort to woo their votes his way. And now that he’s leading the provincial government, there’s a lot more at stake in achieving those resolutions than a chance to avoid the personal disappointment of letting another year’s potential slip away.

First and foremost, Kinew resolved to fix Manitoba’s near-flatlining health-care system. He correctly identified health care as the issue of concern to residents of the province, both rural and urban, and promised an NDP government will deliver a health system that is adequately staffed and resourced and that is able to provide the services Manitobans need when they need them.

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As resolutions go, Kinew’s primary promise is more daunting than the usual vows to lose a few pounds, cut back on screen time or read more books. His government is probably only now beginning to comprehend the magnitude of that which it has promised, and the public that voted on the basis of those vows will have very little patience or forgiveness for anything other than swift and measurable improvement.

As it scrambles to get its metaphorical feet beneath it, the NDP has engaged in a tactic that is common among newly elected administrations — blaming the previous government’s bungling for the inherited financial mess that will make delivering on those election promises so much more difficult than originally imagined or planned.

But the time allowed for dallying in such frivolous diversion is brief, and the pressure to produce results will be doubly intense for a new premier who essentially ran a one-issue campaign. On both the institutional and personal levels, health care is a decidedly results-oriented endeavour; Kinew and company had best dispense with the blame-placing and get down to the business of making things better for Manitobans.

Despite not having been in office long enough to form any naughty/nice impressions, the NDP did receive an unexpected Christmas gift in the form of an $842-million increase in the equalization funds the province receives from the federal government (raising Manitoba’s total transfer payment to $4.3 billion, a 23 per cent increase over the current year’s amount).

It’s a hefty bump, though the NDP has been quick to declare it won’t address the fiscal challenges the government will face in 2024. Whether that proves to be true or not, this much is clear: with the arrival of the new year, the time to start delivering on promises is now.