Crown corporation leadership in new cabinet’s sights

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This article was published 20/10/2023 (1055 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Premier Wab Kinew promised changes to the boards of provincial Crown corporations — starting with strike-affected MPI — as the new NDP cabinet met for the first time Thursday.

“Right now, I think the situation at Manitoba Public Insurance with the strike is the one that demands the most immediate attention,” the premier said.

The ongoing labour dispute involving some 1,700 unionized workers began Aug. 28. It is the first strike in the public auto insurer’s 52-year history, and came on the heels of a six-week Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp. strike that ended Aug. 27.

“One of the things that I want our team to do is to focus on getting things right in this initial 30-day/100-day period,” Kinew said during a brief media availability when asked about changing the boards of Crown corporations, which often occurs after a change in government.

Kinew and his cabinet were sworn in Wednesday in Winnipeg. The NDP secured a majority government in the Oct. 3 election.“We have a strong interest in Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, but I think MPI is going to be the area that we look at first,” Kinew said. “We’re going to try to take our time and get things right in the first instance and perhaps look at other Crown corporations after that.

“We’ll have more news to share (Friday).”

Meantime, a phone call could end the strike, said University of Winnipeg political science associate Prof. Malcolm Bird, who studies Crown corporations.

“The minister could pick up the phone and call the chair of MPI and say, ‘End the strike now,’ and that would be a totally appropriate thing for a minister to do,” Bird said.

On Wednesday, Concordia MLA Matt Wiebe was appointed minister responsible for MPI; its board chairman is Ward Keith.“The government’s the master and you go through the board chair, and that’s that,” said Bird, adding someone in the previous Tory government either implicitly or tacitly endorsed the Crown corporation’s contract stance.

The strike is now in its eighth week.

“Mr. Kinew is in a really difficult position with MPI,” Bird said. “On the one hand, he, obviously, (leads) an NDP government and there’s very close labour connections there.”

However, the new premier has to be aware of the optics of the government getting involved in labour disputes and setting precedents, the researcher said.

“This is an incoming government that, whatever is settled on with MPI, is going to, in various ways, impact other public-sector settlements and that is going to be a much bigger issue for this government and for all of us.”

On Thursday, Kinew said his government is beginning to rebuild the professional civil service so Manitobans “can get the services they need.“These are the people who are high-performing professionals who want to do good things for the people, in terms of keeping our highways clean, delivering our health-care services, delivering strong quality education, shepherding the provincial economy,” the premier said.

“I think many folks in the civil service are feeling discouraged or ignored after many years.”

Just what that entails will be of great interest, Bird said.

“Does that mean more raises, more positions, that kind of thing? For this government, right now, there is a golden opportunity to be proactive, to outline two or three things that they want to implement,” Bird said.

“They need to get rolling on this very quickly and do an effective job, because this window closes after a while.”

On Thursday, Kinew said the NDP will be establishing cabinet committees “and doing a bit of a look ahead in terms of some of the priority areas that we want to focus on.”

“We are setting up appointments to get our government structure off the ground and implementing our agenda on health care,” he added

First up is a healthy child committee of cabinet, chaired by Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith.“This is going to be the working group that I’m going to ask to bring forward the agenda to ensure that young people are healthy, that they have the supports they need to be successful in life, and that we can ensure that more Manitoba children reach their 18th birthday,” the premier said.

The NDP is reviewing appointments to departments, including deputy ministers who take their marching orders from the ministers, Kinew added.

Later in the day, orders in council showed seven new appointees, with six deputy ministers staying on.

Kinew said it was important to have some continuity, in order for the new government “to hit the ground running.”

“I think it’s really important for the civil servants to come in and brief the new ministers: ‘Here’s where all these really important files are at and here’s the next steps’ and let’s get to work in terms of serving the people of Manitoba.”

» Winnipeg Free Press