A Show About Nothing?

Fans of the long running sitcom television show Seinfeld will remember that it was sometimes described as the “show about nothing.” It was hard not to think about that description last Sunday as the NDP brought its pre-budget consultation meeting to Ile-des-Chenes.

The meeting was attended by about six people, excluding government staff, MLAs and the media. Perhaps the modest turnout shouldn’t have been a surprise. The meeting was hardly advertised, held on a Sunday afternoon and required a pre-registration at an NDP constituency office.

Pre-budget consultation meetings have been happening in Manitoba for many years under several governments and they are intended to allow the public to provide feedback about their priorities so that they can be considered for inclusion in the next budget. At their best they are a great opportunity for government to understand what people would like to see in a budget, at their worst they become, well, a show about nothing.

The half a dozen or so people who came on the Sunday afternoon heard an admission from the NDP that in the past they didn’t listen to Manitobans at pre-budget meetings. Specifically, the NDP MLA for Dawson Trail admitted that they ignored Manitobans when increasing the PST from 7% to 8%. Manitobans did not asked for that increase in the pre-budget meetings but the NDP did it anyway and also took away Manitobans right for a referendum.

Following that admission on Sunday, the NDP Finance Minister responded to a question by saying he wasn’t even sure that the NDP would bring in a spring budget in 2016 prior to the provincial election. So, the half dozen people in attendance were first told that their views have been ignored in the past but that they should provide their suggestions for a budget that isn’t likely to be presented. So what was the whole thing about anyway? Holding pre-budget meetings for a budget that may never come is a strange way to engage the public.

The fact is that the NDP government stopped listening a long time ago. The increase in the PST and other taxes along with the skyrocketing debt and growing problems in areas like health care and Child and Family Services are proof of that. Senior members of the NDP government itself staged a revolt against Premier Greg Selinger saying that he wasn’t listening. And it doesn’t appear that much has changed.

And that’s too bad because most of the challenges that Manitoba is currently facing could have been avoided had the NDP just listened to Manitobans all along. Instead they just pretended to listen. This round of pre-budget consultation meetings doesn’t seem to be any different. A series of meetings about a budget that there isn’t even a commitment to produce. That sounds like a show about nothing.