For more than 250 days there has been a vacancy in the Manitoba Legislature as the residents of the Morris constituency have waited for Premier Greg Selinger to call a by-election. Over that period of time, the residents of the Morris constituency have been denied a voice in the Legislature to advocate for their individual concerns or to represent them on important issues such as the increase in the provincial sales tax (PST).
The wait for the Premier to call the Morris by-election has been the longest in 20 years. Over that time there have been a number of vacancies and by-elections for the Manitoba Legislature but none have sat vacant for as long as the Morris constituency.
Premier Selinger has offered the residents of Morris a number of excuses. When the seat became vacant on February 12th he said he couldn’t call an immediate by-election because of the terrible spring flood he expected. In fact that was the same excuse he used to raise the PST. The flood didn’t come and neither did the by-election but the increase to the PST came in on July 1st.
After spring passed Premier Selinger said the people of Morris would have to wait even longer for a voice in the Legislature because he didn’t want to have a by-election while the Manitoba Legislature was in session. He had a difficult time explaining why this was a factor since by-elections are often called federally even when the federal Parliament is in session. In fact, it would seem the most pressing time for a person to be elected to the Legislature is when it is in fact sitting so that residents can have a voice on the issues being debated.
Regardless, summer passed and there was still no by-election called. And now it appears that Mr. Selinger will wait until early 2014 to call the by-election going to the legal limit of one year. Contrast that with the federal Conservative government which, after the resignation of Vic Toews in early July, called a by-election for Provencher within about three months and did so even while the federal Parliament is in session.
Of course there are many who feel that Mr. Selinger refuses to call the Morris by-election any earlier than the law demands because he does not believe the NDP will win the seat. That may be so, but what that really points to is a Premier who does not respect Manitobans or their democratic right.
It was bad enough that he denied all Manitobans the right to have a referendum on the PST increase but it has been made worse by denying thousands of residents in Morris a voice in the Legislature.
