Last week the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party announced a detailed plan to help improve openness in government and restore the trust of Manitobans that has been lost over the past several years with their government.
None of these commitments replace the fundamental importance of electing a government that is committed to openness and ethical behavior in government but each of them are important. For example, we have committed to empowering the Conflict of Interest Officer for the Legislature to conduct investigations and provide reports. This seems like a fairly basic and straight forward provision but one that has been lacking in Manitoba under the NDP.
Currently, if a resident of Manitoba or another elected official wants to have a complaint of conflict of interest investigated about a Member of the Legislature they have to go to the court. The current Conflict of Interest officer is not allowed to either take or to investigate complaints. This is in contrast to every other Legislature in Canada. And it is 16 years after a Law Reform Commission report recommended giving the Conflict of Interest Officer the power to investigate.
Going further, the announcement committed to providing more access to government information. Already, other provinces in Canada have moved to an open government model where they make available online government information that is not private or confidential in an easily accessible form. For example, Alberta through its Open Government initiative posts thousands of pieces of government information ranging from labour statistics to traffic collision reports to export figures. This is data that government collects, is not confidential, but can be helpful to industry or researchers if provided in the public domain in an easily accessible way.
Other commitments that we have made are related to strengthening democracy. Our proposal would require that if a seat in the Legislature was vacant, because of a resignation for example, the vacancy would generally have to be filled within six months. In the past, the NDP have left seats open for a year, leaving thousands of Manitobans unrepresented in the Manitoba Legislature when important matters such as budgets were being debated and voted upon. Most other provinces also require by-elections for vacant seats to be held within six months.
Another commitment that was made by the Progressive Conservative Caucus is to ensure that government advertising adheres to rules of being non-partisan. Millions of taxpayer’s dollars have been spent by the NDP on government ads that seem to have little purpose other than to promote the NDP government. If the NDP wants to promote their party with funds that they have voluntarily collected through donations that is certainly legitimate, but it is not when using government dollars funded through taxes.
These are just a few of the commitments that were announced. You can find the entire Open Government document online at pcmanitoba.com.
