New premier outlines priorities

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This article was published 24/11/2021 (1766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Heather Stefanson is promising to improve health care and offer more help to people hurt by COVID-19, while hinting at further distancing herself from her predecessor.

The Progressive Conservative government’s annual throne speech Tuesday, which lays out the province’s agenda in general terms for the year ahead, promises 400 new nurse training positions, a review of long-term care home conditions and a new effort to tackle homelessness.

In addition to health care, the speech emphasized improving relationships with Indigenous peoples and progressing reconciliation.

It wasn’t quite an apology for the comments Stefanson’s predecessor Brian Pallister and Indigenous Reconciliation Minister Alan Lagimodiere made regarding residential schools and colonialism earlier this year, but an overture appears to be extended to the groups that said those comments harmed their relationship with the province.

“Our government recognizes the deep damage caused by residential schools and colonization and is committed to help the healing.

“Accordingly, we are fully committed to listening and learning from Indigenous leaders, elders and families as we work together towards true equality and putting reconciliation commitments into action.

“The findings and recommendations of the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Murdered and Missing Women Inquiry reports, together with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, are instructive on the work and actions needed.”

Stefanson did not, however, commit to implementing the UN declaration into law — as has been done federally and in British Columbia — when asked by the Sun if her government would do so.

“I know we will continue to work with our Indigenous partners on this very issue,” Stefanson said. “We recognize what has happened as a result of the horrific things that happened in the past in residential schools, and we want to work with our Indigenous partners to see how we can help them heal throughout this process.”

The government says many sectors of the economy will continue to require support as Manitoba emerges from the pandemic, and there will be new measures to boost immigration and make investments in mining and venture capital more attractive.

During the leadership campaign, Stefanson floated making changes to the provincial nominee program, which recruits foreign workers to come and work in the province as a method of addressing labour shortages.

The speech says the province wants to work with the federal government to grow both immigration and workers coming in through the nominee program while improving the recognition of credentials held by workers coming to Manitoba from elsewhere.

While specifics on how this would be achieved weren’t forthcoming, Stefanson told reporters at a noon-hour media briefing that the program could use some advancements after being in place since 1999.

On the subject of providing support to businesses struggling during the ongoing pandemic, the premier said they would be given the tools they need to get back up and running at full capacity. What these tools might consist of was not specified, except for the premier’s insertion that the best thing the government can do for small businesses is to allow them to remain open.

Stefanson, who was sworn in as premier on Nov. 2, is also marking more of a departure from Pallister, who resigned in September after Tory support in opinion polls plummeted.

Since the leadership campaign earlier this year, Stefanson has been touting that her governance style would be more collaborative and conciliatory.

The speech discussed the government’s aspirations, but the speech was short on providing new policies or solutions that would achieve the goals set out.

Ideas advanced in the speech included every nursing graduate receiving job offers in-province (with specifics to be announced later) and expanding the list of presumptive work-related cancers for firefighters.

The Tories earlier killed Pallister’s plan to eliminate elected school boards. The throne speech says a new effort will be made to improve the education system, and previous plans to reform rural health care will be re-examined to ensure equitable access.

The government is also promising to “re-engage” with colleges and universities on funding formulas. Pallister’s plan to make the funding performance-based ran into widespread opposition.

“What I’m hearing from Manitobans is they want a departure from maybe the style and the way things were done in the past,” Stefanson told reporters.

“I think there have been many good things that have been done that we can build on … but I think there’s a better way to do things and a more collaborative way to do things.”

Asked how the province would pay for the aspirations presented in the throne speech, the premier said that would still need to be determined, though she said there have been revenue growths in some areas.

“I don’t think it would be best for us to balance the budget overnight,” she said.

Attending the throne speech in person was Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest, who said he was one of fewer than 50 people sitting in the legislative building’s public gallery during the proceedings.

Chrest was already in Winnipeg for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention held earlier this week and scored an invitation to the event.

Where some people get concerned about the contents of a throne speech, Chrest said he has seen enough of them to know they generally don’t contain many details.

He believed the government was setting itself up for “bold actions” on health care, infrastructure and the economy.

“As a municipality and as the community of Brandon, obviously we would agree with every one of those,” he said.

With the new premier emphasizing collaboration in her early interviews and in the throne speech, Chrest said his personal conversations with Stefanson thus far have had that spirit on display.

The mayor also appreciated the speech’s commentary on the need to improve relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders.

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew told the Sun over the phone he was disappointed the speech didn’t mention affordability, inflation or the cost of living.

“To me, this is the big issue confronting so many people right now,” he said. “How are you going to make ends meet? How are you going to be able to make plans for the future when the cost of everything is going up? I was pretty disappointed but not surprised when I think about it because it’s a sign the government continues to be out of touch in a similar way that people found frustrating when Brian Pallister was the premier.”

A document issued by the NDP on Tuesday afternoon asserted that of the 19 distinct commitments made in the throne speech that they identified, 16 had been made in previous throne speeches, mandate letters or other announcements from Pallister’s time as premier.

“What we’ve seen so far from the PCs is an attempt at rebranding rather than actually changing what’s going on in the decision-making circles in the legislative building on Broadway.”

Kinew, who revealed on Monday that he tested positive for COVID-19, said he was experiencing only mild symptoms and thankfully, his wife, children and other loved ones all tested negative.

“It’s maybe the first throne speech that could have been an email,” Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said in a phone interview. “It was a lot of promising to plan, but almost nothing concrete when there’s a series of really urgent and sometimes critical issues that need to be dealt with, especially the surgical and test backlog.

“Lots of these issues were big issues before the pandemic — the pandemic just shone a light on them,” he said. “Whether it’s seniors or Indigenous relations or climate change, these are things that the government had huge opportunities — two majority government in six years — to do something. So just saying ‘we’ll fix all the stuff we broke’ is not good enough, not by a long shot.”

He criticized the government for saying it will try to attract business and investments when it could take the initiative to make its own investments.

“As far as I know, all these ministers were all appointed by Brian Pallister,” he said. “There has only been one change and that is the person in charge.”

» cslark@brandonsun.com, with files from The Canadian Press

» Twitter: @ColinSlark