Last week a Winnipeg media outlet ran an online poll that garnered thousands of responses. The poll simply asked Manitobans, after two years of NDP government in our province, whether they believed that life was better or worse in Manitoba. An astonishing 76% of respondents to the survey said that they believed that things have gotten worse in Manitoba since the NDP were elected.
While this type of survey doesn’t provide much context in terms of why people voted the way they did, there are a number of things that are likely driving the results.
One of the key factors is certainly the state of healthcare in Manitoba. Two years ago, the NDP ran their election campaign telling Manitobans that they had a plan to improve healthcare. After two years, they have not revealed that plan nor has there been improvement by most measurements. The most recent statistics show that wait times for surgical procedures in Manitoba are worse than ever, as are the wait times in emergency rooms. The NDP Health Minister has gone from telling Manitobans that there is a plan to improve healthcare to telling Manitobans that it is going to take a long time. But that doesn’t really explain why after two years things are actually getting worse. And no doubt that is a significant part of the concern that Manitobans were expressing in the poll.
Additionally, there is a growing concern about the state of the Manitoba economy and finances. Like healthcare, Wab Kinew and the NDP told Manitobans two years ago that they would grow the economy and balance the provincial budget in four years. Since then, there has been an increase in unemployment in the province and growth has slowed significantly. Most concerning, far from reducing the deficit as promised, it continues to grow.
While the NDP inherited a surplus budget when they came to government, as confirmed by the Provincial Auditor, they quickly turned that into a massive deficit and things don’t seem to be getting better. Just last week the NDP Minister of Finance reported that the final accounting for the last budget year showed that the deficit was $353 million more than promised and was once again over a billion dollars. The last time that the NDP government was in power, these type of deficits resulted in huge tax increases including the increase of the provincial sales tax. Already the NDP have begun increasing taxes and it is hardly any wonder Manitobans feel that the finances are worse off than they were just two years ago.
An additional concern is the increasing levels of violent and random crime that we see in Manitoba. Two years ago the NDP, again, said they had a plan to help make communities safer. They also said that they could deal with the issue of bail reform right here in Manitoba. Two years on and there is no plan and now the NDP say they are powerless to deal with bail reform. It is little wonder then that seemingly every week Manitobans hear about another act of horrific random violence in the province of Manitoba and feel less safe in their communities.
Today, just like during the election campaign two years ago, Wab Kinew and the NDP continue to promise to make things better in areas like healthcare, the economy and public safety. And yet, like two years ago, there simply isn’t a plan. And more concerning, not only are things not getting better, according to Manitobans they are actually getting significantly worse. After two years in government, it is no longer about what the NDP says they will do, but about what they are actually delivering. And so far, Manitobans don’t seem to be seeing much.
