Manitoba PC's present moderate budget with a few changes from NDP

The first budget introduced by the new Progressive Conservative government of Brian Pallister introduces only minor changes after the recent defeat of the former New Democratic Party (NDP).

The budget does not try to avoid a deficit. Instead is plans for a $890 million deficit at the end of its first fiscal year. Although the budget is called "Correcting the Course" it only makes modest changes. Rather than any drastic cut in government spending and austerity measures, all but two government departments will actually see their budgets rise this year. Health and social services will receive the greatest increases:

 What's now known as Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living will receive an additional $300 million as its budget increases to $6 billion from $5.7 billion. The budget for the new Families Department will rise $100 million, to $1.9 billion from $1.8 billion

The Conservatives, or Tories as they are called, claimed only they would balance the budget during their next term. This would be some time after 2020 if they are re-elected.

The government deficit will actually be more than twice that the NDP Greg Selinger government envisioned for 2015-16. However, the actual deficit was predicted to be around one billion. The new budget gives some tax relief to low income earners and claws back a senior's school-tax rebate brought in by the NDP but only for higher income seniors. Finance Minister Friesen said: "Tax policy must be principled Those seniors who actually need the support will continue to receive it." Friesen also promised to reduce the fees for ambulance service. The opposition NDP said that it expects the Conservatives to bring in deep cuts and an austerity program next year as they did not have time to plan for such policies as yet.

While Manitoba has balanced budget legislation, Finance Minister, Cameron Friesen, plans to suspend it in 2017 and replace it with "legislation that provides Manitoba taxpayers with enforceable protection, including the restoration of their right to vote on major tax increases". There was much opposition to NDP premier Greg Selinger increasing the provincial sales tax after promising not to do so during the election campaign. Friesen said: "This is practical. There's nothing hidden here. We are relying on the advice of experts."

One of the departments to have its budget cut is Manitoba Agriculture. The rural areas were among those most strongly supporting the Progressive Conservatives. The budget drops from $181 million to 180 million. Friesen suggested the drop was actually good news because he said commodity prices are strong and there is an expected drop in crop insurance payments.

Chris Adams, of St. Paul's College at the University of Manitoba said that the budget was "steady as she goes" with no major surprises. He said: "This wasn't a Mike Harris 'Common Sense Revolution' budget, as some people worried about. It's more in tune with what we saw from Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party when they defeated the Saskatchewan NDP in 2007.Also, the premier didn't have a lot of time to get this budget together, so he's really taken what was happening over the past number of years and fine-tuned it. I think next year we'll see some bigger changes."The Harris Ontario provincial budget was very right-wing and ideological whereas the Wall government has been careful not to alter popular social programs associated with the left and NDP. As a result, it has high popularity ratings. However, Adams did note that the budget did not highlight child care, Indigenous issues, or labor issues as the previous NDP government had one.

The Conservatives managed to break with the tradition of showing off a new pair of shoes when they introduce their first budget. Finance Minister, Cameron Friesen, said: "We thought in our first budget as Manitoba government, rather than do something empty to satisfy a tradition, we would instead follow the Manitoba values of inclusiveness and generosity." Friesen gave new pairs of sneakers to the Teweldes, an Eritrean family of five, who recently relocated to Winnipeg via Sudan. Friesen said that as a father of three he understood how little costs add up:"It's tough for families to make those ends meet, Today we're helping this family in one small way." He said that the government would save families money by not raising taxes. 3,000 refugees are expected to be brought to Manitoba over the next year.

Brian Pallister, leader of Manitoba PC's hates Halloween

No doubt there are many industrious researchers from various parties searching through the past speeches of their opponents to unearth treasures with which they can embarrass them.

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In the case of Brian Pallister, the leader of the opposition Progressive Conservative party in the Manitoba legislature, such researchers have unearthed several paragraphs in a speech that Pallister gave in the legislature in November of 2014. I thought I would check out the speech just to make sure that the researcher was not altering any of what Pallister said. The whole speech can be found here. Turned out that everything was authentic and the author even mentions the context that Pallister was actually trying to draw a parallel between the behaviour of NDP members and trick-or-treaters at Halloween. Indeed, Pallister was trying to scare Manitobans away from supporting the NDP, since they are like those who go out looking for treats on Halloween. They dress up and disguise themselves so that those giving out the treats do not recognize them for what they are. People end up giving them treats, their votes I guess, if the analogy follows through at all. Probably Pallister was just dressing up his contention that the NDP members mislead people about what they are. In the process of his analogy, however, Pallister does have personal recollections and states opinions on Halloween that he probably should have left off the record.

Pallister starts out by noting he hates Halloween and always has. Apparently his first issue with Halloween was that he was bigger than other kids so everyone knew who he was not matter what he wore. Since everyone else could hide their identity while he couldn't he must have concluded that hiding one's identity on Halloween was a bad thing:"It wasn't fun for me and I've never liked it ever since. I don't like the deceit of it. I don't like the holiday and I never will. I don't like trick or treat. I think it's–I don't think it's good for the integrity of the kids."

The article points out that Pallister identifies himself as a Christian. The previous Christmas, Pallister had wished any Manitoban infidel atheists a merry Christmas but wondered what they celebrated during the holiday season. He himself celebrated the birth of Christ. Most scholars consider Halloween a Christian celebration as well, though it may be also have accumulated certain pagan customs. According to Wikipedia: 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide,[9] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed...According to one view, All Hallows' Eve is a Christianized observance influenced by Celtic harvest festivals.. with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain. Other scholars maintain that it originated independently of Samhain and has solely Christian roots.Pallister could celebrate Halloween as a Christian ritual. Of course, as with Xmas, Halloween has been secularized and is now promoted more by secular merchants and local Chambers of Commerce than religious authorities. Pallister concludes his analogy by trying to make the NDPers spooks to be avoided: I don't like Halloween, and what I'm seeing from these people is Halloween all over again. Trick-or-treat traitors, they jump up and down around Halloween time and say, let's change costumes. We can be somebody else now. We'll be the new, new NDP.

The NDP certainly needs new costumes and to appear different. It is languishing about 20 percentage points behind Pallister's party in the polls. It may see former premier Gary Doer as a possible wizard who can save it from defeat in the election to take place next April.

Manitoba Premier, Greg Selinger, to run again for NDP provincial leader

The beleaguered premier of Manitoba, Greg Selinger, is running to retain his leadership of the Manitoba New Democratic Party(NDP) at a convention to be held on March 8.

Selinger faced a recent revolt by five cabinet ministers who criticized Selinger and suggested he step down as premier. The five ended up resigning but continue as NDP members and will support government legislation.Two of the ministers have filed papers to run for the leadership. Selinger filed his nomination papers at the NDP provincial office in Winnipeg. At the same time he defended his decision to raise the provincial sales tax to 8 per cent from 7. The decision was very unpopular since during the election campaign he had promised not to raise the tax.

 Selinger will continue to be premier during the leadership race and said: “I plan to make my first responsibility governing is for the people of Manitoba. There is a leadership contest going on. That will be the second priority in the sense that your first duty is to serve the people of Manitoba.” 

Theresa Oswald, formerly Minister for Jobs and the Economy, was first to enter the leadership fray on December 19th followed by former Transportation Minister Steve Ashton. Ashton has promised to promote local food and social enterprises in a speech made at Local Meats and Frozen Treats, a company selling made-in-Manitoba products. Ashton also called for a referendum on the increase in the sales tax, an obvious challenge to Selinger.

 Oswald has the endorsement of two Winnipeg city councillors. On the campaign trail Oswald said: "Premier Selinger has served this province with dedication for many years and it's been an honour to work together on important programs for Manitobans, including free cancer drugs for all patients, expanding home care for seniors and introducing the Rent Assist housing benefit for low income families.I look forward to a respectful, constructive and honest debate about who is the right man or woman to renew our party, regain the confidence and trust of Manitobans and ensure the NDP is competitive going into the next election."  

Selinger has the dubious distinction of being Canada's least popular premier with an approval rating of just 17 per cent. Next door in Saskatchewan Brad Wall of the conservative-leaning Saskatchewan Party is the most popular at a 65 per cent rating. Political scientist, Alan Mills, of the University of Winnipeg said that the NDP will lose the next election unless they dump Selinger: "I think with him as the leader, the NDP is a dead duck." 

 While the next election could be more than a year away, the NDP has a large gap to bridge between its support and that for the Conservatives. A recent poll in December puts their support at just 26 percent of decided voters. This is tied with the lowest level for the party ever recorded by Probe Research in December of 2013 just a year ago. The Progressive Conservatives(PC) have improved from 42 percent in September to 48 percent now giving them a comfortable 12 percent lead over the NDP, although the PC vote is much stronger in rural areas than in the city of Winnipeg. The Liberal Party has the support of 19 percent of voters a drop of one percent since September.

President of Manitoba PCs youth wing resigns after racist comments

Brayden Mazurkiewich, who was president of the youth wing of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party has resigned after posting racist comments on Facebook. The Progressive Conservatives are the official opposition in the Manitoba government.

The president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, Ryan Matthews, in a press release said:

"Comments by Progressive Conservative Youth President Brayden Mazurkiewich have been deemed conduct detrimental to our party. As PC Manitoba party president I have asked Brayden Mazurkiewich for his resignation and received it."

Mazurkiewcih made some of the comments in response to news that a group of four First Nations again won a decision in their favor on the government sale of the Kapyong barracks site located in Winnipeg. The court ruled that the federal government had failed to consult, or even communicate adequately with the First Nations involved before selling the land. The First Nations group has been trying to secure the land as part of a treaty land entitlement. In 2007 the federal Treasury Board decided to sell the barracks' site to the Canada Lands Co, a Crown corporation, to oversee the site's development and resale. The group of First Nations went to Federal Court to have the decision overturned. In September 2009 a judge ruled in the group's favor declaring the transfer invalid because the government did not consult enough with the First Nations about their treaty claims. Now the government's appeal has failed. Mazurkiewich responded to the court decision on Facebook:

"Listen carefully to the news today. Looks like they might be announcing that they're building a freaking reserve in the middle of Winnipeg. This city is quickly becoming the laughing stock of the entire country."

When some people commented on his post Mazurkiewich went on to say of the barracks' site:

"That was built for hardworking men and women of the military, not freeloading Indians."

Mazurkiewich apologized for his outburst and handed in his resignation but he still maintained he is opposed to having an urban reserve on the property saying:

"But my feelings about the reserve going in ... I don't think that would fit well in that community at all. You know, you hear on reserves all the time, people are burning down their own homes. There are shootings and stabbings, and we don't need to bring more of that to Winnipeg."

Mazurkiewich has also made some comments on Twitter that have offended some people as well. He has called the famous Winnipeg Folk Festival the "hippie festival". Francophones he claims are "all just pushy and liberal".