Kinew presents vision in first throne speech

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This article was published 22/11/2023 (720 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew presented his vision for stronger health care and better quality of life for families in his first throne speech while warning the province will have to tighten its belt when it comes to spending.

“The road ahead will surely have challenges. Many commitments the previous government made did not fit within a sustainable approach to the province’s finances,” Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville said, reading from the NDP government’s throne speech to open the 43rd legislature Tuesday.

“These decisions have left Manitoba in a financial challenge.”

The speech referenced Brandon a few times, citing previous campaign and post-election promises to boost surgery capacity, invest in the Park Community Centre’s replacement and maintaining a Westman cabinet office.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the speech, Kinew described the province’s books as a challenge but said his campaign promise to balance the budget in one term has not changed.

“Our team is going to have to do some hard work to be able to ensure that we move towards balance when it comes to the provincial budget while investing in those important areas like health care and education, and like lowering costs for your families,” he said.

All levels of government will have to tighten their belts in the same way families have done, he said.

“There may be some more challenging conversations about things that were not previously announced,” Kinew explained.

“There may be some more challenging conversations about the nice-to-have items on the previous government’s agenda as opposed to the need-to-have items.”

He wouldn’t provide examples.

Major capital projects the Progressive Conservatives committed to prior to the general election are under review, including the redevelopment of the adult bed towers at the Health Sciences Centre, Kinew said.

“What we’ve seen since taking office, though, is the previous government often didn’t take things through the required budgetary process before announcing them prior to the (election campaign) blackout,” he said.

“There’s a number of initiatives the government committed to publicly where there’s no plan to pay for them.”

However, the premier said he remains hopeful.

“Today is a new day in our province and people are feeling very optimistic about the future, and now it’s up to our administration to deliver on that sense of optimism.”

The throne speech laid out the government’s legislative agenda in broad strokes, confirming the NDP’s intention to pass laws pausing the 14-cents-per-litre provincial gas tax, to make Sept. 30 a statutory holiday recognizing Orange Shirt Day — the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — and to recognize Louis Riel as the first premier of Manitoba.

It also reinforced the new government’s emphasis on rebuilding the health-care system.

“Instead of more agency nurses, we will give nurses more agency,” Neville told a packed chamber. “Instead of closing emergency rooms, we will bring emergency rooms closer.”

Neville also announced the NDP government has reached an agreement with the federal Liberals to bring geothermal heat pumps to about 2,500 households in Manitoba that currently use heating oil.

“This collaborative approach will help us deliver on our commitments to reduce emissions, lower costs for families and create more low-carbon jobs,” Neville said.

Brandon was specifically mentioned in the speech a few times, though most references were related to previous announcements made by the NDP during the election campaign or early in their tenure as the ruling party.

The expansion of spinal surgeries at Brandon Regional Health Centre, promised last week, was mentioned, along with the opening of a Westman regional cabinet office in Brandon announced earlier this month.

During the election campaign, Kinew pledged up to $1 million to redevelop the Park Community Centre and include a child-care aspect in the new space. That promise was also reiterated on Tuesday.

What was new was a promise to invest in the downtowns of larger Manitoba communities like Winnipeg, Dauphin, Selkirk, Brandon and municipalities in the Pembina Valley.

Though it does not reference any specific situations, the speech also promises to “ensure that queer and trans students in Manitoba are safe, respected and know they belong, and we will work with communities and school divisions to ensure every family is welcome and included at their school.”

Earlier this year, school boards across Manitoba including in Brandon faced calls to ban content discussing sexuality or gender issues from school libraries.

The local effort to ban books failed in Brandon.

Speaking to the Sun by phone, Spruce Woods Progressive Conservative MLA and Manitoba Hydro critic Grant Jackson said he was disappointed that the speech did not contain more information on how the NDP will pay for these measures, especially since they committed to keeping the 2023 fiscal framework laid out under the previous government.

“If they’re keeping the fiscal framework, if they’re not going to raise taxes — which is what they committed during the election — then how exactly is the NDP going to pay for all of these commitments including freezing hydro rates and ending homelessness within eight years?” Jackson said.

“Today’s throne speech was very short on details for Manitobans who are concerned about the bottom line on their kitchen tables.”

With the planned freeze on Hydro rates, Jackson said it might provide Manitobans with short-term financial relief but will have implications on the Crown corporation’s long-term plans to service its debt.

With the Westman cabinet office being touted again, Jackson said the government is trying to repackage something both Tory and NDP governments have operated during the past 30 years in an attempt to prove they care about western Manitoba.

Jackson said he was also disappointed to see few mentions of agriculture and rural Manitoba in the speech, as well as moving forward with expanding surgical capacity while also disbanding the surgical task force the previous Tory government had put in place.

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from Carol Sanders and Colin Slark