A little access goes a long, long way

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

“In all of the decisions our government makes, we will include the voices and needs of rural Manitoba. With our new Westman cabinet office in Brandon, we will give families in Westman, the Parkland and surrounding communities a direct line to our government.”

— Speech from the Throne, Nov. 21, 2023

 

One of the more frustrating aspects of operating the only daily newspaper in Manitoba outside the Perimeter Highway is the fact that all too often we simply don’t have the same access to government officials and information that our counterparts in Winnipeg tend to enjoy.

That is, of course, unless the premier or ministers are making a special announcement in the region — in those moments, the shoe is briefly on the other foot. But these moments are few and far between, in general terms.

This lack of access becomes more acutely felt during particular sittings of government that include the delivery of budget documents, and the Speech from the Throne such as the one made yesterday during the first session of the 43rd sitting of the Manitoba legislature.

Such a complaint may sound too much like inside baseball — “Oh look, the Sun’s editor is whining again about a lack of government access …” — but bear with me.

For both the throne and budget speeches, the provincial government of the day will generally make embargoed copies of budget documents and the text of the speeches available to accredited members of the working media the morning of the speech delivery. Those who are part of the “lockup” must sign for each copy and agree to an embargo on the speech “and all associated material” until the speech begins in the chamber.

This allows reporters and columnists to have more time to read the documents and formulate better questions for various ministers, MLAs and the premier of the day — which they also have specialized access to. Yesterday, for example, the premier held an embargoed press conference during the noon hour in a specially designated room for media before the session of the legislature began.

Here in Brandon — some two hours away from the legislature — we simply don’t have the same ability to attend these events as other media. It’s a fact that we were reminded of earlier this week when we asked if there was any potential for remote access. The answer was no, of course.

It’s a troublesome situation for our local newsroom as we are usually left making calls at the end of the day to localize whatever was said in the throne speech or, more importantly, the budget speech. But the problem is broader than mere media complaints.

Keep in mind that when it comes to embargoed documents and access before a budget speech, it’s not just news organizations that get involved in lockup at some room in the legislature. Interest groups and non-profit organizations also make use of this access. Manitoba Chamber of Commerce president Chuck Davidson told me yesterday, for example, that while they don’t get involved in lockup for the throne speech, they do for budget documents.

No doubt the same goes for other organizations in the health, business, education and construction fields that are based out of Winnipeg. And unless a local organization has the time and resources to send a representative to Winnipeg for the day, organizations here in Brandon and western Manitoba are left out.

There is a solution to this problem of access, but it requires Wab Kinew’s NDP government making good on its promise to be more communicative with residents in western Manitoba, and responsive to their concerns and ideas. This was apparently the point of the announcement Kinew made earlier this month in announcing the new Westman regional cabinet office here in Brandon, and its new Westman outreach co-ordinator, Jason Gobeil.

The fact that the (re)opening of this office under the NDP was referenced in the Speech from the Throne yesterday suggests that the Kinew government is trying to earn a little political capital for doing so. But this cabinet office could do so much more.

Case in point, this new government will at some point in the near future come down with a new budget, which again will require media and interest groups to be part of the embargo process should they want access to budget documents and interview access. It is certainly within this government’s power to ensure that western Manitoba organizations, including media such as ourselves, have similar access to embargoed documents at the cabinet office here in Brandon.

By providing such access to local organizations that could benefit from more and better access to their provincial government, it would certainly go a long way to showing that Kinew intends to be more receptive to the interests of rural Manitobans. And I can’t believe we’d be the only ones interested.

All that’s needed is the government will to make it happen.

» Matt Goerzen, editor