In the December 16, 2010 edition of The Carillon I wrote in this space about the prospect of the NDP government raising taxes on Manitobans if they were to win re-election later this year. After all, their economic plan, which was published last year, shows that the NDP expects to spend more over the next 5 years while government revenues are expected to remain flat. This will result in a deficit unless taxes are raised. Since the NDP are promising to return to a balanced budget within 5 years, a tax increase is the only option that is left.
A week later, in the December 23rd edition of The Carillon, NDP Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk responded in a Letter to the Editor promising the NDP would not raise taxes. Unfortunately, Minister Wowchuk did not try to explain how the NDP math works. She didn’t try to explain how expenses can go up, revenues can be flat and everything will balance without increasing taxes. Instead, she simply said that the NDP can be trusted to keep their promises.
So, let’s take a look at the NDP promises. In 1999 when the NDP were elected government they made only a handful of promises. The first promise was that they would eliminate hallway medicine in 6 months and with $15 million. It has been 10 years since that promise was made and anyone who has visited a hospital recently will know that despite increasing spending by some $5 billion, there are still many people lined up in the hallways waiting for medical attention.
A second promise the NDP made in 1999 was to keep balanced budget legislation. Yet, over the past 10 years they have slowly dismantled that legislation to the point where today, there is no longer a requirement to balance the budget in our province.
The NDP also promised in 1999 to make Manitoba a safer place. However, over the past 10 years under their soft-on-crime approach, street gangs in Manitoba have grown in both numbers and violence. Winnipeg this year was named the violent crime capital of Canada. Clearly, the NDP broke this promise as well.
They also promised in 1999 not to sell Manitoba Hydro. Indeed, no political party in the province would sell Hydro, and neither did the NDP. But what they did instead is mismanage the Crown Corporation so badly, by taking money from it and interfering on decisions like the route of Bi-Pole III, that it is now heavily in debt and hydro rates are consistently increasing as a result.
So Minister Wowchuk’s promise that, if re-elected, the NDP would not raise taxes has to be viewed against the backdrop of past promises. And judging by the NDP’s record of breaking promises, it takes something of a leap of faith to believe another one.
