View From the Legislature

On Tuesday the spring session of the Manitoba Legislature wrapped up after one of the busiest legislative agendas in years. In total, over 65 pieces of government legislation were debated and voted upon during the session which began at the beginning of March. In part, the large amount of legislation was because the spring session last year was cut short because the Legislature was unable to operate fully due to the pandemic.

This session, due to the tremendous work of the staff of the Manitoba Legislature, many elected MLAs were able to participate virtually, allowing for the Legislature to operate within Public Health guidelines. It was difficult for Legislature staff to find a way to make an institution that has operated the same way essentially for 100 years to function in a modern virtual setting, but it worked. This is because all political parties got together and worked to ensure the session was able to take place within health guidelines. This is a demonstration of how political parties, that often have very distinct differences of opinion, often cooperate to ensure our democracy continues to function.

Among the bills that were debated and passed was legislation that begins to reduce the reliance of property tax to fund education. For many years, Manitobans have expressed concern that the amount that they were paying in education tax on property was growing at a rate that was not in keeping with their ability to pay. And for many, such as seniors, the value of their home may have increased significantly while their income did not. As the education tax is based on the value of their home, this would have a disproportionate impact.

The legislation that was passed returns 25% of the education tax back to homeowners with a commitment to increase that to 50% next year. This, coupled with a funding guarantee for education, ensures that Manitobans will get a break while ensuring funding for education remains at among the highest in the country. Manitoba homeowners have already started to receive these rebate cheques in the mail.

Also this session, the provincial budget was passed that incudes record investments in infrastructure. This is always important but especially as all provinces will be looking to recharge their economies as they emerge out of the pandemic that has had such a negative economic impact.

At the end of the session, there were only 6 MLAs allowed in the Legislative Assembly. This is for a Legislative Chamber that normally holds 57 MLAs. As House Leader I was one of the six attending personally in the Legislative Assembly and it was far from normal. Hopefully, as Manitoba is able to move past the third wave and into a reopening phase it will allow all 57 MLAs to return to the Legislative Assembly after summer.