Last month I sent out a survey to constituents asking whether they were concerned about the level of debt that is being accumulated by the Manitoba NDP government. These surveys are helpful to me in representing the views of the region and in helping me keep in touch with the views of constituents.
I wasn’t surprised that the vast majority of the responses that I received from residents expressed significant concern with the level of debt in the province. While our region has grown and welcomed many new residents, I continue to hear from both new and long-time residents that sound fiscal management by their government is important. Many respondents to the survey wrote comments to the effect that government shouldn’t just be able to keep taxing and spending because that’s not how things work in peoples homes. That is the common sense that I’ve come to expect from residents of our region.
With the provincial budget set to be released on Tuesday, there were also some questions from residents regarding how we could reduce expenditures in the province. Some who responded to the survey provided their own suggestions and the Manitoba PC Party will have some of its own in response to the budget?
For starters, the NDP could reduce the number of government communicators they have whose job it is to make the government look good. Currently the government employs 192 full-time communicators. At a time when winter snow-clearing operations were being cut, it would have seemed more reasonable to reduce the number of communicators that are employed by the NDP government. Some will of course wonder how many communicators the PC Caucus is allowed to have. The answer is 2.
Another way that the NDP government could find savings as it looks to reduce the deficit and the debt is to do away with the NDP vote-tax which provides tax dollars to political parties. The NDP is set to collect about $272,000 this year and in future years from the vote-tax to support their political party. They have already said they are taking at least some of the money. The PC Party has said we won’t take a dime. That is another suggestion for the NDP to save some money.
Another way to save millions of dollars is to stop the process of forced unionization on large Manitoba construction projects. Forcing all workers on these projects to become unionized is not just undemocratic, but ends up costing the taxpayer millions of dollars more in construction costs because there are less bidders willing to bid on this work. This is another way the NDP could save money without reducing services Manitobans rely on.
These are just three suggestions, and there will be more, as to how the NDP, if they are serious, can eliminate the deficit in a short time frame and start reducing the debt. Residents have once again told me that is a priority for them and it will be a priority for me as well.
