Now It's Up to Manitobans
Apr 22, 2007
On Friday, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer did the inevitable and called an election. It promises to be an interesting and, one would guess, potentially heated affair.
The MGEU will be monitoring the candidates and the party platforms and commenting in this space on the emerging issues and how they affect our members. Each of the parties has something to prove to public employees. We plan to keep their feet to the fire.
During the campaign the governing New Democrats will, no doubt, be highlighting their accomplishments on the environment, health care, education, infrastructure, and immigration. There have been tangible accomplishments in these areas (though the Liberals and Tories will surely disagree). These are bread and butter issues for the NDP.
One assumes the Doer government will also point to their record on the economy touting their tax cut record (particularly for small business and low income Manitobans) as proof they’re the party for ALL Manitobans. And they’ve accomplished debt repayment and addressed some pension liabilities along the way, which have contributed to the Province receiving credit updates from Moody’s and Standard & Poors.
Our economy is growing. It’s not booming, but then again it never does (we rely on over a dozen industries to drive our economy rather than just one like Alberta’s oil and gas industry). We’re stable, and frankly Manitobans seem to like that if you look at Doer’s poll numbers.
But the Doerites have things to answer for when it comes to Manitoba public employees. Corrections employees, MPI employees, lab techs, rural EMS workers, child care workers, crop adjustors and admin staff, Colleges staff, just to name a few – these individuals will be looking to the current government to start making the investments necessary in a new mandate to improve security and service delivery to Manitobans.
Looking ahead, the NDP will probably focus in this campaign on child care, health, education, highways and infrastructure, water quality, and will probably try to take the tough on crime moniker away from the Tories (they’ll fail).
Tough on crime is the Tories strong suit. Throw the bums in jail, they’ll say. “Dude, where’s my car?” is more than just a bad movie to them – they say they mean business on auto theft.
They’ll also wax philosophical about their dedication to making Manitoba a “have” province again. They’ll say Doer relies too heavily on hand-outs from Ottawa (they won’t say the percentage of transfer payments under them in the 1990s was about the same). They’ll say the business community is ready to pack up and move to Regina or Saskatoon. They’ll say they can do a better job to grow the economy.
It’s the way they want to do that which worries public employees, and those outside the Manitoba business elite’s inner circle. What worries public employees is the Tories seeming devotion to selling off public assets to pay for tax cuts. They call it “growing the tax pie” or when, generally speaking, it usually means cutting services that people depend on or forcing people who can’t afford it to pay user fees.
More than anything, the Tories will say it’s time for a change. What the Conservatives haven’t adequately done is define what change means – and based on their record in the 1990s, that’s an iffy proposition.
The Tories have a record to campaign on, and they’ll have to answer for it. And it is fair to paint Tory leader Hugh McFadyen with the same brush as Gary Filmon because McFadyen was a senior advisor to former Premier Filmon. Together they cooked up the schemes to sell MTS, to try and privatize home care, to open private liquor outlets, to introduce frozen food in hospitals, to fire 1,000 nurses and cut medical school spaces… not to mention the vote splitting scandal in Manitoba’s Interlake constituency.
They’ll say that’s all in the past. They’ll say we’re different now. But we remember what happened to civil service (and other) contracts under the Filmon Tories. Zero percent wage increases (watch for more on this on the MGEU blog soon), legislation hurtful to public employees. Legislation that was hurtful to workers in general (their changes to workers compensation were draconian, and so heavily weighted on the side of business that they should be ashamed even to mention Workers Comp).
Public employees need to remember this: the Tories have made comments recently about what may be in store under a Tory government – like more privatization of the health care system, or opening more private wine stores, or rebranding “Manitoba Hydro” (which seems to involve charging more to consumers and using the revenue to cut whatever taxes they see fit). And those are just a few.
If change is good, we want to know what that means.
Which brings us to the Liberal Party…. Dr Jon is undoubtedly a nice fellow, but when your goal is to double your seat count (from 2 to 4, and official party status), it’s hard to comment. Frankly, these guys can say anything.
Election 2007 will not be a cakewalk for the NDP despite the sky high approval ratings of the Premier – they’ll have to work hard to fight off the PCs in this one. We look forward to watching the fight and commenting round by round.
Comments
Comments are now closed
Well, I'd rather they "spin" in the direction the people they represent think. Wouldn't you be more partial to a party that's offered civil servants like me actual wage increases than what McFadyen did and say he was going to cut wage increases for civil servants and reduce the size of the already overburdened and underpaid public employees who deliver services you depend on? McFadyen's party legislated wage freezes in the 1990s - civil servant don't forget.
Jeff - -0001-11-30 00:00
Actually, for a union website, I think this blog has been pretty balanced (for a union website anyway). From what I've read, they've accurately depicted the PCs record and I can only assume McFathead has actually said those things about more privatization. As for the Liberals, well, good luck with that. Straight up question: are you a Liberal or a Tory, Jim? Anyway, I don't see them (either here or anywhere else on this site) asking us to support any party at all.
Jeff - -0001-11-30 00:00
You assume Mcfaddyen said those things about privatization, and I can't say he did or didn't. However he can't privatize hydro without a vote by every citizen of Manitoba .......it's the law the NDP passed , so for Doer to accuse the tories of privatizing Hydro is a scare tactic don't you think ? It was Doer that passed the law that Hydro CAN NOT be privatized without a referendum. You are right for a union website, the spin is not too bad, but there is still spin. Many of the people paying union dues in this province do not support what the union bosses support. Maybe I am not a big supportter of union brass since I was a victim of union violence at one time , however unlike union bosses , most union members are good people. I know for a fact that some tories and liberals have talked to union people , like firefighters and offered a ton of support, but either way, they still help the NDP, so what do uunions expect ??
jimcotton - -0001-11-30 00:00
This is going to be an interesting election. I have set up a blog dedicated to the race. <a href="http://buckdogs-manitoba-election.blogspot.com/">Drop by and see us sometime!</a>
leftdog - -0001-11-30 00:00
I actually like Jon Gerrard's idea about car theft. Also why pussy-foot around the issue ? Just come out and say you want all union members to campaign for the NDP already ! Stop pretending !!!! Anyway's Mcfadyen is looking pretty weak, but you are right , it will be a tough campaign for the NDP. The tories want it pretty bad this time, they want to prove they made the right choice picking Mcfadyen. Let the mudslingin' begin !
jimcotton - -0001-11-30 00:00
Did it ever occur to anyone that 70% of people in Manitoba work for some level of government ? That's a little high, don't you think ?
jimcotton - 2007-04-26 08:48
Just out of curiousity, where are you getting your statistics from?
redSAID! - 2007-04-27 11:37
I read something about that stat, if I recall correctly. They lump workers like dentists and dental hygenists in as working for some level of govt. Do you honestly believe that of Manitoba's approximately 1.2 million people, almost 800,000 work for government? Really! Let's start with the Government of Manitoba's civil service: 13,000 tops? Stop drinking the kool aid, Jim!
Jeff - 2007-04-27 14:41
OK, I think I got mixed up with how many people work for the government in Ottawa. 70% is the wrong figure, my mistake. In ottawa everyone and their dog works for some form of government.
JimCotton - 2007-05-03 23:08