Many Manitobans are expected to come to the Manitoba Legislature for a rally on Thursday May 2nd to tell the Selinger NDP government that they oppose the PST increase from 7% to 8%. Those Manitobans will represent the views of thousands of other Manitoba taxpayers who are increasingly feeling the financial pinch because of the NDP government’s inability to control its spending.
And while those at the rally will focus their dissatisfaction on the PST increase, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for Manitobans to keep up with all the different ways they are being asked to pay more. Just a week after the NDP sprung the PST tax increase surprise on Manitobans it was announced that Manitoba Hydro rates were going up again, this time by 3.5 per cent as of May 1. That means that rates have increased 8% over the past year.
The Public Utilities Board weighed in on the hydro rate increase saying that they are concerned about the ability of Manitoba Hydro to meet its future financial targets and by the fact that its debt continues to go up. Not only has there been an 8% rate increase over the past year in hydro rates, but the utility is expected to increase rates by 4% every year for the next 20 years. And that is the most optimistic scenario.
The Public Utilities Board specifically pointed to concerns with cost overruns of the new Bi-Pole III transmission line which the NDP have directed go on almost the longest and most costly route imaginable and to the fact that export prices have dropped significantly over the past few years and are expected to stay down for years to come.
The thing that the PST and hydro rate increase have in common, other than the obvious fact they will both cost Manitobans more, is that they are both attributable to poor management by the NDP government. The PST increase is the culmination of the NDP failing to get their spending under control for many years. The hydro rate increase is the result of years of the NDP interfering with Manitoba Hydro, raiding its money and forcing it to make bad business decisions.
But in the end, it all adds up to the same thing. Manitobans are paying more and they are keeping less money in their pockets thanks to Greg Selinger and the NDP.
New Website – I’m pleased to have launched an updated version of my website. You can keep up to date with the latest news on my work at the Manitoba Legislature and in the constituency as well as from the Progressive Conservative Caucus. The website address remains www.kelvingoertzen.com.
