It seems that the provincial NDP government literally has a million ways to waste your tax dollars.
This week it was revealed that more than a million dollars was spent in the last year for the NDP to run print, radio and television advertisements touting “Steady Growth, Good Jobs.” This was accompanied by signs across the province that cost another $327,000 to create and install.
The ads and the signs provide no tangible information and are clearly designed to do nothing else other than promote the NDP. In many ways, they simply resemble election advertising for the NDP paid for by the taxpayer. It’s bad enough that the NDP brought in the vote tax a few years ago that results in a quarter of a million tax dollars going to the NDP, now they are spending an additional million dollars a year to simply advertise their party.
It is the kind of advertising that would not be allowed in other provinces on the taxpayers’ dime. It is only done for one purpose, to try to boost the NDP’s sagging political fortunes in Manitoba. And it comes at a time when the provincial government can hardly afford to waste money. With a debt that has doubled in recent years, annual deficits that show no sign of disappearing and the province on notice from bond rating agencies that our credit rating could drop, the NDP can hardly afford to waste a million dollars.
But it seems to be the trend in the NDP government. Last month the Premier paid out $670,000 in severance pay to a handful of staff who refused to support him in the NDP leadership race earlier this year. A million for advertisements, almost three quarter of a million for political staff payouts and another quarter of a million every year to fund the NDP political operations. It’s a lot of money and who knows how much more waste there is that Manitobans don’t know about.
The most troubling thing of all is that the million dollar ad campaign and all the other wasteful spending is money that can’t be directed into healthcare, education or infrastructure. But that’s not something that the NDP will advertise.
Legislature Remains In Session
The Manitoba Legislature was scheduled to end its session and break for the summer on June 11. However, because of the late start to the spring session that resulted from the NDP leadership fight, there is still a great deal of work yet to do. This will result in the Legislature sitting till at least the end of June and scheduling more than the usual days in the fall and winter to complete the agenda.
