On Monday of this week, I joined many residents of Steinbach and the southeast in celebrating the very long anticipated completion of the construction project at Highway 12 and Loewen Boulevard. The project, which I announced in the fall of 2021 together with then Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler, was one of the largest intersection reconstructions in the City’s history. It involved a great deal of new and reworked underground infrastructure and was intended to help meet the ever-growing needs of our city and region.
But, as important as the project is, there was little doubt that the more than two-year construction would test the patience of drivers and nearby businesses. What was helpful was that there were regular updates about the projects progress and people that drove by could see the various stages of progress. It took a bit of time, but you could see the work getting done.
Contrast that with what we heard in the Throne Speech from the Manitoba NDP government last week. While there was the usual list of promises and commitments to things like affordability and healthcare, Manitobans are still, after two years of NDP government, failing to see any real progress on these files. And the lack of any visible or tangible progress is causing frustration.
For example, on the issue of affordability, after two years in government the NDP announced in the Throne Speech that they are going to form a committee to study the issue of increasing food prices. Some will remember, this is a committee that the NDP promised to put together before the last election. It has taken two years for them to again make the promise and it may be another two years before the committees work is done. Why will it take nearly half a decade to form and hear from a committee and what exactly are they studying? Everyone who regularly enters a grocery store knows how much prices have jumped. That hardly requires a government committee to realize. What is needed now are ways to help Manitobans and another two-year delay won’t assist at all.
The same frustration is building when it comes to the state of healthcare. While the NDP promised two years ago to make healthcare better, by almost all measures they are making it worse. Wait times for surgeries like hip and knee replacements are up. Emergency room wait times are up. And as recently as Tuesday of this week the Manitoba Nurses Union said that the NDP were being arrogant, dismissive and using nurses as pawns when it comes to their concerns.
For Wab Kinew and the NDP, the realities of governing are upon them. Manitobans naturally gave a new government some time to put forward their own plans and implement them but after two years, there is growing frustration as there are no plans and no results.
Patience is something that is limited. Steinbach and area drivers exhibited a great deal of patience when dealing with the two-year construction project at the intersection of Highway 12 and Loewen Blvd. But what helped is that they were seeing continuous progress on the project. For Manitoba’s NDP, two years into their government, Manitobans continue to look for progress and can’t find it. And their patience is running out.
