Changes come with a cost

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This article was published 26/02/2024 (613 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A peaceful transition of power is considered a cornerstone of democracy.

Too bad it isn’t also cheaper.

Manitobans received some sticker shock after it was revealed the provincial government spent $1.7 million on staff severance payments in 2023 when the NDP government, led by Premier Wab Kinew, took over power from Heather Stefanson and the Progressive Conservative party, which had governed since May 2016.

Staff changes are part of the peaceful transition. Ministerial chiefs of staff and policy advisers from the departing Conservative government received severance pay — ranging from 10,000 to $146,000 — and their offices were filled shortly after by a new team of NDP appointees.

Staff turnover and severance costs also happen beyond the halls of the Manitoba legislature, and that’s where the financial costs escalate for taxpayers and the political price builds.

Among the first changes the NDP government made after winning the Oct. 3, 2023 provincial election was to whisk away all but one of MPI’s Conservative-appointed 10-member board of directors and bring in nine of its own crew to manage the Crown automobile insurer.

The new board took charge Oct. 20 and acted quickly, hammering out a new contract with MPI’s 1,700 workers Nov. 1 and ending a two-month strike in the process.

While that problem was solved quickly and cleanly, another Crown corporation, Manitoba Hydro, has the potential to become a greater controversy, one subject to Manitoba’s famously fickle political winds.

Hydro has been a political hot-button topic for years in Manitoba, with NDP and Conservative governments both using Hydro profits to shrink provincial deficits and gain voters’ approval.

The political meddling continued during the 2023 election campaign, when the NDP promised to freeze Hydro’s electricity rates, which it has vowed to keep despite a forecast $225-million cut in profits caused by low water levels on the rivers penned behind Hydro’s dams.

Like it did with MPI, the NDP made changes on Manitoba Hydro’s board. Nine of its 10-member board were shown the door on Dec. 4, 2023 to make room for nine new appointments, including a new board chair, Ben Graham.

The ramifications from those changes began Feb. 13 with the dismissal of Jay Grewal, Hydro’s president and chief executive officer for the last five years, following a months-long executive leadership assessment.

No reason for her firing was announced other than Graham saying it was time for a “fresh perspective,” and ruling out a public disagreement between Grewal and Adrien Sala, the minister in charge of Hydro, as a cause.

Grewal’s severance hasn’t been disclosed but her salary, which exceeded $500,000, suggests her severance package could be substantial.

More costly for the NDP could be the political consequences.

Those began to build when Obby Khan, the Conservatives’ finance critic, grilled Graham about the timing of Grewal’s dismissal during a Feb. 22 legislative committee meeting.

“It’s clear that there is suspicious behaviour here and that there is reason for concern,” Khan said during his questioning, trying to tie in the disagreement between Sala and Grewal to Grewal’s firing.

Manitoba Hydro generates electricity — not political fireworks — for users across the province using the same methods, regardless of who sits on the legislature’s government benches.

Damage estimates from Manitoba’s fender-benders by MPI’s assessors carry on whether the NDP or Conservatives are in charge of the political reins of power.

Manitoba’s leaders ought to remember these facts of corporate life and let those they hire to operate government-owned companies to lead without the constant shadow of politics looming over every decision they make. Because, if you think sevarance costs alone are too much, just think of adding the cost of politics.