Just before Christmas while doing an interview on a Winnipeg radio station, NDP Premier Gary Doer made an interesting comment. In discussing a decision made by another level of government he indicated that he was hoping that the people involved in the decision would change their mind.
In fact, Premier Doer went further saying that there was nothing wrong with a person changing their mind about something and said that he changes his mind everyday. The revelation by the Premier that he changes his mind everyday may be a little troubling to some, but it certainly provides hope that in 2009 the NDP government will reverse some of the decisions it made in 2008.
We can all hope that on one of the first days of the New Year, Mr. Doer decides to change his mind on his decision to give $1.25 of taxpayers’ dollars annually to the NDP Party for every vote it received in the last election. This vote tax stands to put one million tax dollars into the pocket of the NDP Party when it should be the responsibility of political parties to raise their own funds through voluntary donations.
Hopefully the day after the Premier changes his mind on the vote tax he will change his mind on his decision to eliminate the balanced budget law in Manitoba which made it a requirement for the government to balance its books each and every year. Last year the NDP eliminated this requirement giving it the ability to spend well beyond the province’s means and to leave the debt for our children to repay.
We can also hope Premier Doer changes his mind on the decision to build a new hydro transmission line on the west side of Lake Winnipeg instead of the east side of the Lake. Manitoba Hydro itself preferred the eastern route but Premier Doer forced Hydro to select the longer, less safe and more costly western route. By changing his mind on this one decision, Mr. Doer would save Manitobans more than $600 million.
Manitobans can also hope that the Premier changes his approach to environmental decisions early in the New Year. Last year the Premier made a number of decisions that went against the advice of scientists when it comes to cleaning up out lakes and rivers and Lake Winnipeg in particular. Yet he continues to ignore the fact that hundreds of tons of raw sewage is dumped into the Red River every year because of an antiquated Winnipeg sewer system.
According to Premier Gary Doer he changes his mind each and everyday. It would only take the Premier four days, less than a week, to change his mind on the vote tax, eliminating balanced budgets, building a hydro line on the wrong side of Manitoba and ignoring the advice of environmental experts. If the Premier changed his mind on these issues in the first week of 2009 the province would save millions of dollars, be better positioned financially and leave a cleaner environment for our children.
Time will tell if the NDP is truly ready to turn over a new leaf or whether Mr. Doer has changed his mind about being willing to change his mind.
