Tory MLA prepares for next legislative session

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/03/2025 (202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a busy few months meeting with residents and organizations in my constituency, it’s time for me to return to the legislature.

The spring sitting of the legislative session promises to be eventful as my colleagues and I in the Official Opposition push the New Democratic Party (NDP) government to account for Manitoba’s declining economy, rising taxes, worsening health care, and lack of a strategy for pending, potentially devastating U.S. tariffs.

The 25 per cent tariffs planned for Canadian goods and services heading to the U.S. are the most serious economic threat in years to our province and its industries. However, Premier Wab Kinew and the NDP have offered no decisive plan to defend Manitoba and the jobs our families need. The premier only made a show of trying to appease the U.S. administration’s border security concerns by announcing in Emerson that Manitoba conservation officers, already overworked, would begin border patrols as an addition to their regular tasks without additional training or more officers hired.

The uncertainty over the tariffs comes as our provincial economy is already severely weakened by the premier’s anti-business attitude and tougher regulatory barriers. These have driven away private investment, dropped Manitoba to the bottom of national business rankings, and increased unemployment from four per cent to 6.2 per cent in 2024 — a 55 per cent hike in joblessness that amounts to more than 15,000 additional Manitobans out of work.

In fact, Kinew has yet to present an economic plan for the province after his NDP formed government almost 18 months ago. Instead, he has driven up the provincial deficit to $1.3 billion this year after running it up to $1.9 billion last year and simply pushed taxes higher on families and businesses.

The NDP’s stoppage of a phase-out of education property tax will hit property owners hardest with Brandon seeing a 6.78 per cent tax hike from the Brandon School Division. Their removal of a tax credit on the basic personal amount will effectively increase income tax on skilled professionals whom we must recruit and retain. Manitoba Hydro rates are rising as well, after the premier’s broken promise to freeze them.

No proposed rate freeze has been submitted to the provincial Public Utilities Board for approval yet this year, despite the NDP’s advertisements for a freeze on billboards and social media. However, at their cabinet table, Kinew and his ministers previously set an annual hydro rate increase of up to four per cent.

The government’s misleading advertising has reached into health care, too, as the NDP congratulates itself for what it describes as progress. At the same time, overcrowded hospitals, ever-longer waits for emergency treatment, MRI tests, and hip and knee surgeries, and severe staff shortages point to a system in crisis. A national report’s listing of four Manitoba hospitals among the eight worst hospitals in Canada indicates the NDP’s health-care advertising is not only misleading, but insulting.

Here in Westman we see every day the NDP’s broken promise to fix health care.

• Brandon Regional Health Centre Emergency crisis: In November 2024, Brandon Regional Health Centre’s emergency room was in a critical situation due to a shortage of ER doctors, which could have led to devastating results for patient care. Despite their efforts to get the premier and health minister’s attention, they did not even respond.

They also reached out to me. Along with my colleague Kathleen Cook, we met with five Brandon hospital emergency doctors, listened to them and brought their concerns forward to the legislature, which brought immediate attention to the situation.

• Emergency room closures in Prairie Mountain Health region: In December, only seven of 30 emergency rooms in the Prairie Mountain Health region were at full capacity and reliably open around the clock. Hospitals throughout our region were shut down for a total of 89 days in December while emergency departments, such as in Carberry, were closed for most of that month.

Unfortunately, a Prairie Mountain Health board member resigned in recent weeks as Kinew’s NDP tried to shift blame to health authorities for the government’s weak allocation of resources. In January, the BRHC maternity ward was almost forced to close due to a shortage of staff, which was only averted when their colleagues stepped up.

• Paramedic shortages in Westman: Our Progressive Conservative caucus has urged the NDP to act immediately to fill a critical paramedic shortage at emergency medical service stations in Westman. In mid-January, Shoal Lake had only one paramedic for 13 intended positions, Virden had nine paramedics at a station intended for 17, Russell had five paramedics for 13 positions, and Erickson had filled two of four paramedic spots. These dire shortages are threatening the safety of Westman residents and could lead to deaths.

Our caucus is calling for expanded training for primary-care paramedics in rural and northern areas, and for accommodations for paramedics in Shoal Lake to help bring staff to that EMS station.

A lot is at stake as the house resumes sitting in March, and as your MLA for Brandon West along with my colleagues, we will push Kinew and this government to stop driving Manitoba into decline and forcing all of us to pay the price.

WAYNE BALCAEN

Progressive Conservative MLA for Brandon West