This week, NDP MLA’s and Cabinet Minister’s were busy blaming Greg Selinger for the increase in the PST from 7% to 8% while they did their best to get him to quit as Premier. How ironic that, nearly a year after each NDP MLA voted in favor of increasing the PST and breaking their word to Manitobans, they all seem to have conveniently forgotten their own actions.

Ever since the NDP introduced the budget in spring of 2013 and said they were breaking their word and increasing the PST, they have been travelling around the province defending the move. Each one of the NDP MLA’s have said that the move was necessary. NDP MLA, Ron Lemieux even famously said that those who opposed the PST increase were like “howling coyotes.”

Yet, this week, each of these same NDP MLA’s were trying to distance themselves from the decision, as though they had no part in it. It all brought back to mind December 3rd of last year when I spoke at third reading to the NDP legislation that increased the PST and stripped away Manitobans right to a referendum. It was the end of a long political battle to try to get the NDP to reverse its decision to increase the sales tax.

After eight months and hundreds of hours of debate on the legislation, it was scheduled to come to a vote on the afternoon of December 3rd. In my speech I for asked even one NDP MLA to do the right thing and to stand up for their constituents and oppose the increase. I wasn’t expecting dozens of NDP MLA’s to vote against it. I wasn’t expecting even five. I was looking for just one NDP MLA to say that breaking an election promise is wrong and that they wouldn’t support the increase. During the speech many NDP MLA’s made heckling comments. Others suggested it would all be forgotten soon and it was much ado about nothing.

And in the end, each NDP MLA supported the PST increase after having eight months to think about it and countless conversations with their respective constituents to hear the concerns. And yet now, after they have come to realize that Manitobans are not forgetting about the broken promise and how it was done, they are trying to blame someone else for how they voted. That is going to be a tough sell.

And this sudden conversion by NDP MLA’s will leave many Manitobans wondering what happened. All that really happened is that the NDP are worried they are going to lose government. They are worried about losing power. They never really were concerned about Manitobans losing money or being lied to in an election. And so as they scramble to try to rewrite history and find people to blame for how they decided to vote, the answer for each of them isn’t hard to find. It’s only as far away as the closest mirror.