Tories reveal how they’ll pay for promises

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This article was published 09/04/2016 (3498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Brian Pallister is betting he can find savings and reduce waste in government where the NDP couldn’t — enough to more than pay for his election promises.

Pallister released the cost of his campaign pledges Friday at a breakfast event attended by dozens of his candidates and supporters at The Forks.

He pegged the cost of his promises at a modest $116.9 million, but the figure only covered the first full year of a Progressive Conservative administration, beginning next year.

What’s more, it only reflected the incremental increases to government spending resulting from the pledges. For example, the PC promise to earmark $1 billion a year for infrastructure was listed as having an “incremental impact” of $50 million, since the Tories calculate the NDP spent $950 million on infrastructure in the most recent fiscal year.

Pallister promised a Progressive Conservative government would save $35 million by tendering more government contracts and find more than $50 million in savings after a comprehensive review of government departments. It would also cut government travel by five per cent, eliminate self-congratulatory government ads and slash the size of cabinet and its supporting bureaucracy.

The savings from these and other changes would total up to $138.9 million, the PC leader said, or $21.9 million more than the cost of his promises.

“We’re showing where we’ll save money and where we will invest it. We’re the only party that is doing that,” Pallister said.

He said the Tories would make good on their promise —no later than 2020 — to reduce the PST to seven per cent. He said they’d also find savings to pay for the estimated $300 million annual cost of the tax reduction.

The Tories would continue to increase government spending, but at a more sustainable rate of “no less than three per cent,” he said.

Pallister didn’t say a government he leads would have the best job creation record in Canada or the shortest hospital wait times, but he vowed Manitoba would be “the most improved” province in these and other areas, such as in family tax relief and student reading results.

“I want Manitoba to be, in our first term, the most improved province in Canada,” he proclaimed.

Pallister scoffed when it was suggested that his projected savings — equivalent to about one per cent of total government spending — may be overly optimistic.

“Ask Manitobans, if you go to a number of stores and comparison shop, do you think you can save one per cent? What do you think the answer will be?” he shot back.

The Tory leader said savings will have to be found in all government departments, including health. He said the NDP has been wrong to ignore savings possibilities in some departments while “cannibalizing” others.

“Anyone who says they’re going to make progress on reducing the deficit while ignoring certain departments is, I think, catering to poor thinking.”

The Tories would eliminate the East Side Road Authority and fold its operations into the Infrastructure and Transportation Department. That would not necessarily doom the organization’s projects, but they would be re-evaluated, Pallister said.

He said a PC government would keep a Manitoba commitment to help build a road for Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.

Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari laughed when told Pallister said he’d reduce the deficit by $22 million in his first year in office and did not cost out his pledge to reduce the PST.

“I don’t mean to laugh, but honestly, I just don’t know how this is possible, based on what he’s already promised,” Bokhari said at her campaign office on Friday. “He’s portraying himself as

the fiscally responsible, knowledgeable leader. But when Manitobans truly take a look at what he’s saying and start peeling back the onions, Manitobans will know and find themselves very concerned.”

The NDP issued a statement blasting Pallister for announcing spending cuts

on the same day Statistics Canada released job numbers

“showing that Manitoba has the lowest unemployment rate in the entire country — with the best labour force growth, the best job growth and the second-highest full-time job growth.”

The Tories are also promising to change labour laws. Pallister said he would eliminate “forced unionization” — labour agreements that cover all workers on big government projects and require them to be part of a collective agreement.

The party also says it would end automatic certification in union drives and allow secret ballot votes in all cases. Currently, if a union gets 65 per cent or more of employees in a workplace to sign membership cards, certification is automatic and no vote is held.

The proposals were panned by Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck.

“He’s making a pledge that’s really making it more difficult for unions to organize a workplace,” Rebeck said.

Four former NDP labour ministers issued an open letter Friday, urging party members to stop what they called a “full attack on unions, working families and workplace rights” by Pallister.

“Make no mistake, Pallister will try to turn Manitoba into a low-wage, right-to-work province,” reads the letter signed by Erna Braun, Becky Barrett, Jennifer Howard and Nancy Allan, who were labour ministers since the NDP came to power in 1999. “His position will increase conflict and harm workplace conditions for working families.”

Pallister said many union members support his call for secret ballot membership votes. He said ending a requirement that all workers on big government projects be covered by a collective agreement will save taxpayers money and is fair.

“All our workers, unionized or not, should have a chance to work for government jobs.”

» Winnipeg Free Press, The Canadian Press