Manitoba is on the eve of another provincial election. In less than 60 days, Manitobans will head to the ballot box to choose their government for the next four years. And so it may have come as a surprise that the first campaign announcement by NDP Premier Greg Selinger was an apology. Well, it was sort of an apology.

Mr. Selinger took to the airwaves and in the newspapers to tell Manitobans that he hadn’t always gotten things right. While he didn’t refer specifically to his government’s decision to break its 2011 election promise and raise the provincial sales tax (PST) it was that move that began many of the troubles for the NDP and certainly broke trust with Manitobans.

As for Mr. Selinger’s partial apology, it will be for Manitobans to be the judge of its sincerity.

However, as they make their determination, it is worth looking back and remembering the great lengths that Mr. Selinger went to in raising the PST. Not only did he go back on this election vow that he wouldn’t raise the tax, he retroactively changed the law to take away the right of Manitobans to be able to vote on the tax increase. That is a right that had been in place for decades and one that Mr. Selinger took away to ensure the increase went through.

As well, the Manitoba Legislature sat through the summer of 2013, longer than any previous spring sitting before, as Manitoba Progressive Conservatives tried to stop the PST increase and give Greg Selinger time to change his mind. There were also several protests in front of the Legislature that drew thousands of Manitobans who were concerned about the tax increase. Mr. Selinger did not attend even one of these rallies to hear the concerns of Manitobans.

Most concerning, there were days of public committee hearings regarding the increase to the PST. Hundreds of Manitobans came to the Legislature to speak to the committee and express their concerns about the PST being increased. Night after night they came to make their voices heard and Mr. Selinger did not attend even a single meeting to hear even one Manitoban.

And when it came time to vote on the PST increase, Mr. Selinger and every one of his NDP Caucus members stood and voted to break their promise and increase the PST. And then, to top it off, he sent taxpayer funded government lawyers to court to defend him not following the law to have a referendum before increasing the tax.

In the end, Greg Selinger took away your right to vote on the tax increase, didn’t attend one rally or one committee to hear from Manitobans, sat through the summer in the Legislature to force the increase through, voted to break his promise and raise the tax, and then went to court to defend it.  And after all that he wants Manitobans to believe he is sort of sorry? That may be a tough sell.