There was a significant announcement last week about a new economic deal signed between the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The agreement is designed to ensure that goods and labour can move more freely between these three provinces. It is also part of a larger strategy to attract foreign investment into what the Premiers of these three provinces dubbed “the new west.”
If you are wondering where Manitoba fits into this, unfortunately, it doesn’t. Manitoba’s NDP government wasn’t asked to be part of this important economic deal or to be part of “the new west.” And if you think we should then concentrate on looking east for economic partnerships, too late there as well. While Ontario and Quebec have signed deals to improve their economic ties, Manitoba under the NDP, got left out in the cold there as well.
In fact, it seems nobody wants to sign on with Greg Selinger and the NDP government in an economic partnership. Part of the reason is that the priorities of the NDP don’t line up with most other provinces. Western Premiers have noted that the focus of Manitoba’s NDP government is getting more money from Ottawa while their focus is building the strength of their own economies through investment and trade.
The priorities of Premier Selinger and his NDP cabinet are all wrong. For example, last week when the deal was being signed to usher in the new west, Mr. Selinger was introducing legislation in Manitoba to put the final nail in the coffin of balanced budget legislation in Manitoba and to protect ministerial salaries.
The legislation will end the requirement for any balanced budgets for at least the next five years. Under the current balanced budget law, that would have meant that NDP cabinet ministers would have had to take a 40% reduction in their salary. However, the NDP is changing that part of the legislation to save themselves that deep salary reduction.
The ability to change a law that you have broken to avoid a penalty is a very rare privilege. By changing the law to protect their salaries, the NDP government is making a mockery of the principle and the rule of law. It is certainly not a right afforded to the average Manitoban who cannot change the law when they get a speeding ticket, for example, simply to avoid the fine. But that is exactly what the NDP government is doing.
By changing the law to end balanced budgets and to protect their salaries, the NDP cabinet has sent a clear signal what their priorities are. Is it any wonder that when the Premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan decided to sign a landmark deal to advance their economies and create a “new west” they didn’t bother to invite Greg Selinger and his NDP cabinet.
