NDP Greg Selinger's Throne Speech Poor

This Thursday, I spoke in the Manitoba Legislature to comment on the inaugural throne speech by Greg Selinger. My comments are below:

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by congratulating the Premier (Mr. Selinger) in his new position and his responsibilities. Though there are very large differences between our party and the Premier with respect to the type of government that we believe is needed for our province, I respect the Premier for his commitment to public service in Manitoba and the sacrifices that he and his family have and are making in this effort. I also want to recognize those who work in the Manitoba Legislature and their contributions to the working of the Legislative Chamber.
This being said, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to this year's Speech from the Throne, it was a major disappointment. Some Premiers get the essence of what needs to be done for the people of the province. They make plans and charge forward. Others crawl out of the starting gate. This NDP Premier has chosen to crawl. And this is not a time for crawling.
Time and time again the Premier, when he was Finance Minister, showed a poor ability to plan and to prepare. He did his best to cover up the fact that he knew very early on that the Crocus Investment Fund was in trouble but the fact remains that for years after he knew there were big problems at Crocus, he was still acting like a salesman trying to pitch Crocus by praising Crocus in his budget.
Over time the Premier, as Finance Minister, got more polished and suave, sort of like a used car salesman, and did better at covering for Crocus and better at drawing in Manitobans. He covered up his deficits by grabbing money from Hydro. He covered up the $900-million increase in debt in 2008-2009 by claiming it was a balanced budget. He covered up the planned $88-million budgetary operating deficit in the current fiscal year by saying he's got a balanced budget and now, in his first Throne Speech as Premier he's failing to deliver a vision and failing to provide goals for our province. But what shone through in this Throne Speech was, once more, the Premier is a poor manager.
We are at a time of economic uncertainty. I know it and the hardworking people of this province know it. We appear to be emerging from a recession with a recovery which is likely to be slow and prolonged. We need to position Manitoba so that whether the recovery is sooner or, as many think, later, we will come out of this period ahead, with the new investments made, and the new thinking that will truly position Manitoba for the next decade and for the rest of this century.
The Premier's Throne Speech contained nothing that would give Manitoba a real advantage heading into the next decade, stronger and better positioned nationally and globally. Instead the Premier himself even admits his efforts are flat.
How should the Premier have acted? One of the first and most important actions a Premier must take in difficult economic times is to be frank and open with people, open the books and talk about the issues and provide solutions. Yet the Premier and his Finance Minister have ducked the extra effort and avoided providing an economic statement earlier than in years past. Without an economic report from the Province we are missing a huge piece of the puzzle and must wonder just what the future of the province is going to look like.
What we do know is that in the annual financial report for the fiscal year 2008-2009 our provincial debt, the net debt, went up by almost $900 million. Provincial debt happens because the Premier and their team spend more than Manitoba earns in revenue.
In 2008-2009 our former Premier and his Finance Minister, our new Premier, spent almost $900 million more than Manitoba earned in revenue, and of course our new Premier says we had a balanced budget. The Premier's credibility on managing and improving this province's economic status is not good. The Throne Speech the Premier delivered to the people of Manitoba did not provide the help or the forward-thinking approach that many in this province need.
The economic statement we asked for this fall is missing. The 2009-2010 operating budget is to spend $88 million more than the operationing revenue brings in and the Premier (Mr. Selinger) calls this good financial management. All the Premier said in the Throne Speech is that he expects to draw down the rainy day fund. So, basically, Manitobans have to raid their savings to help pay for the Premier's shortcomings in fiscal management. The Premier should have been open with Manitobans and told us more clearly what the economic picture is.
The second thing a premier should do for his province when times are tough is to look ahead and give a vision of where he expects things to go in the next five years. That's why we elect our leaders, because we expect them to have the skill and creativity to set goals for improvement and to rally the people needed to reach and deliver on these goals. Our new Premier's Throne Speech had no vision for Manitoba. It contained no goals, and it made no mention of rallying the talent and passion of this province to help move things ahead.
Things aren't going well for many people in Manitoba, and for these folks, hearing the Premier's empty Throne Speech must have been a slap in the face. One group that the Premier short-changed in the Throne Speech is the Interlake farmers. I met with farmers in Arborg. I heard their stories, and I felt their pain as they wonder how they will keep food on their table for their own families and how they will continue to help feed their fellow Manitobans. It's shameful that the Premier did not listen well enough to the people in the Interlake area.
The Premier says in his Throne Speech that he's throwing all sorts of programs, including AgriStability for one, at the Interlake farmers. This is a program which works well if farmers have a single bad year. It's a program which is hopeless when farmers have had a series of bad years. In the Interlake region near Arborg and Fisher Branch, almost all farmers have had three bad years out of the last five and some farmers are in a belt where they had four bad years out of the last five. And this year conditions were so wet that some farmers even had muskrats building houses in their grain fields.
The Premier, in his Throne Speech, interestingly, was not speaking to the farmers but rather to the people in the city of Winnipeg. Instead of showing that he knows the situation and is ready to tackle the crisis appropriately, the Premier provided just enough words to suggest to those outside the Interlake that he's doing something. And when those who are living with the struggles recognize that the Premier is simply re-announcing funding, that isn't enough to properly help those in need.
The reality is that 40 percent of the land was not even seeded this year. The reality is that even those who planted crops, almost without exception, had very poor crops. The reality is that it's not just grain farmers but cattle farmers who are badly affected because there wasn't enough hay produced and hay prices are very high. The reality is that even those who have bees did poorly this year.
The reality is that the problem is a large one and it needed larger and bolder thinking than the small-minded lip service the Premier (Mr. Selinger) was able to muster. Not only did the Premier try to cover up his own limited commitments to help farmers by spouting lots of programs, the Premier then went on to name one drain after another which he's going to clean out and improve. What the novice Premier didn't tell Manitobans in his speech is that the drains he mentioned were already committed several years ago and never done. The Premier didn't tell Manitobans in his speech that his government should have done these drains three years ago, and it might have helped reduce the mess of overland flooding that has caused four municipalities to declare disasters.
The Premier didn't tell Manitobans in his Throne Speech that he's no intention of doing the planning needing to make sure the Interlake has an adequate water management plan that includes sufficient water retention and drainage. The Premier didn't tell Manitobans that with climate change, we're going to need the Interlake to be able to handle an increase in moisture and we should be acting now.
Let me emphasize. The Premier's government had 10 years in office to help the Interlake prepare for high moisture levels. Indeed, amazingly, when I visited the area around Arborg, I saw a provincial drain stuffed with cattails and poorly operating, making the problems worse instead of better. It's almost unbelievable that in this circumstance, the NDP so neglected the provincial drains in this area that they made the problems of wet fields worse not better. Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes. For those on the NDP side of the House, the truth hurts.
What should have been done? Since the Premier and his government don't seem to be able to meet with farmers in a productive way–I was up there with my staff and asked farmers and residents in the Interlake: how do we need to help? They made it clear and plain. One farmer indicated the need for a one-time recovery grant of about a hundred dollars an acre and this was supported by many others in the area. Logically, this help should be provided 60-40 federally and provincially. Logically, in this instance, rather than waiting for endless provincial-federal negotiation and bickering, each government should provide its share directly without waiting for the other government to act. Time is important here.
Why does such a payment make economic sense? Let's look at the facts. In 2008, there was a crop insurance payment to the area of 12 million. In 2009, it's been, I'm told, a further 8 million so far. The loss in agricultural and economic productivity in the region's been estimated at about 100 million for this year. Creating conditions where farmers can do well is what we're about. Helping farmers through an exceptional year makes sense, because over time the farmers contribute hugely to the economy of the Interlake and the economy of our province.
But we also need to put in place the major effort to have a water management program to include water retention and drainage that will adequately protect farmers from such wet weather in the future. Much of the wet Red River Valley is now better protected. The Interlake has never had the attention it should have, and it must be attended to in a major way. This means ensuring that plans are developed, that we have adequate public consultations and we have the provincial and federal push to take the plans all the way to fruition. It's long past time to do this. The Interlake region needs and deserves this. Why wasn't such a reasonable approach presented in the Throne Speech? Instead of cleaning out a few drains as the Premier (Mr. Selinger) plans, we need to get the total job done. I could go on and on dealing with other critical issues that we're facing today, issues facing the cattle industry, the hog industry and the forestry industries, to name a few.
We should have had a realistic assessment of where we are, a picture of where we need to be in five years and the government prepared to deliver the approach which will position the industry and people in the area and the community, while coming out of this economic downturn. The Throne Speech should have also provided a vision for other vital industries in economic sectors in the province, sectors like environmental industries, biotechnology, medical and health technology and aerospace could not only position us for economic growth, but also can be developed in ways that produce a double whammy, by helping to address critical environmental and health issues, as well as spurring the economy.
Education is not only a service, but it's also an industry, and increasingly a global industry. Forward positioning is vital and yet it was just not there in the present Throne Speech. What a lost opportunity; how sad for Manitoba.
Let me reiterate: An economic downturn is a time like no other to plan and prepare for the future. Where times are tough and money is scarce, the families in this province buckle down and figure out how to do more with less and still grow and thrive. This, the government, and this Premier has fairly–clearly failed to do.
And that is why I give the government a failing grade for this Throne Speech. It was uninspiring, it was amateur, it was stagnate, it was flat.
And now I want to address several other areas of critical need. The first of these is child care, or early childhood education as we should more properly refer to it. There are few things more important than the future of our children, and yet we live today in a province where the waiting times for child care are the longest probably in the history of our province. It's tragic when a young child is half grown before the child care is there and available. What a missed opportunity for the child and for the parents, when a single mother needs to go to school or to work but cannot because the child care is not there. It is tragic for the mother and for the child.
When new immigrants come and need to get child care, so that they can take a course to learn English and to participate in Manitoba, and they cannot, it's tragic the loss of opportunity that could and should be there. One of the most remarkable stories I heard this year was from a family who'd searched and searched and searched for child care, and they could not find it, and they have ended up sending their children to Jamaica to stay with relatives, because child care is just not available the way it needs to be in Manitoba. The situation is desperate, and yet the government has been and continues to be ineffective in dealing with the situation, and there was nothing in the Throne Speech to suggest any change in this.
And under health care, it's been apparent to many in Manitoba that a fundamental reform is needed to bring our wonderful medicare system into the 21st century. We want and we embrace our health care, public health-care system. At its base, it's the envy of the world but right now, because of problems in the way Conservatives and NDP governments have looked after health care in Manitoba, our health-care system is floundering and fragile. Too many people are waiting too long for critical procedures. Too many medical errors are occurring. Workers on the front line are wasting their valuable time wrestling funding and approvals from bureaucrats sitting around tables instead of delivering care. We are not moving fast enough and far enough on best practices, and most tragic of all today, we are not addressing, in any way near adequate, major preventable diseases like diabetes and FASD.
For 10 years I've been calling for a realistic and focussed approach to the epidemic of diabetes that we have in our province. Instead of action, the present government has spent a decade in poor management and in cover-up. The diabetes epidemic is threatening the lives and well-being of many Manitobans, and it's a huge threat to the fiscal solvency of our province. And yet the Premier (Mr. Selinger), in his inaugural Throne Speech, has chosen to totally ignore diabetes, one of the worst epidemics of the history of Manitoba, and not even a mention of it once in the Throne Speech.
FASD is another condition where there's great potential to improve prevention and yet, like in child care, the Province isn't even keeping statistics to know accurately how many children have FASD in Manitoba.
There are additional interesting ways the Premier could have approached the health of Manitobans, but the Premier chose not to act. Manitoba Liberals, recognizing that having pets improves health, will be introducing legislation this session to end the NDP government's discrimination against pet owners, which results in too many isolated seniors being without the comfort and health benefits of having a pet.
Quality controls and procedures and best practices also need to be improved in Manitoba. As the Auditor has recently pointed out, the NDP has shockingly managed personal care homes in this province. This must be improved to improve the health and dignity of our elders.
When it comes to the environment, the Premier (Mr. Selinger) and his Throne Speech also get a failing grade. There is little that has not already been announced in the effort to clean up Lake Winnipeg, and Killarney Lake and other lakes didn't even get a mention. The Premier doesn't have an adequate plan. He wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars–of taxpayers' dollars–to remove nitrogen from the city of Winnipeg's sewage, when only the removal of phosphorus and ammonia are necessary. The extra money required for nitrogen removal–350 million in capital costs, almost 200 million in operating costs over the next 20 years, an unknown additional interest cost–could be far better spent in removing phosphorus from the effluent of municipal lagoons and in doing model studies on a lake like Killarney Lake. Today, such effluent often runs, phosphorus-rich, into our waterways from municipal lagoons. Not good, Mr. Premier; another failing grade for this Throne Speech.
There could have been a far better and forward-thinking approach to the economy, building on the needed steps to position our province for the future and to prepare for a strong future for our children.
There should have been, in this Throne Speech, a vision to overhaul and address the problems in Child and Family Services. Under the NDP, there has been an extraordinary increase in the number of children in care. The only conclusion that can come from this is that the NDP have failed miserably in learning the facts and understanding the realities facing families in this province and then providing good support and effective programming for children and families so that they can stay together and function well.
Bullying in the workplace continues to take a toll in Manitoba. I've introduced legislation several times to address this, but the NDP seem to want bullying to continue to be a problem. Why? Who knows.
I could go on and on with examples in this Throne Speech of poor insight into the problems of our province and with poor planning for the future health of our province, but I will say this, Mr. Speaker: that Liberals will vote against this Throne Speech because it is not a good Throne Speech. It is not good enough for Manitoba. Indeed, in my many years in politics, I've never seen a worse Throne Speech. It's a very bad start for this Premier.
Therefore, I now move, seconded by the MLA for Inkster (Mr. Lamoureux),
THAT the amendment be amended by adding the following after clause (q):
But this House further regrets:
(q) That the government's Throne Speech failed to address the chronic shortage of child-care workers who enter into the field of early childhood education and remain in the industry long-term and how this shortage of qualified workers is negatively impacting access to child care for Manitoba families; and
(r) That the government's Throne Speech failed to address the issue of spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars to unnecessarily remove nitrogen from the city of Winnipeg's municipal sewage and how this money would have been better directed towards assisting municipalities remove phosphorus from municipal lagoons located outside of the city of Winnipeg; and
(s) That this Throne Speech fails to identify that the prevention of diabetes and FASD are integral to the success and financial manageability of Manitoba's health-care system; and
(t) That this Throne Speech made no mention of the disaster declarations in the four Interlake municipalities of Bifrost, Fisher, Armstrong and Gimli and that the massive overland flooding that's occurred in the area has so negatively impacted area farmers and agricultural producers that many may not be able to continue farming, and that the government has made no provision for emergency relief; and
(u) That this Throne Speech makes no mention of the extreme erosion that's occurring along the shores of Lake Winnipeg, and that a major highway is only feet away from being washed out and isolating the community of Sagkeeng; and
(v) That this Throne Speech makes no mention of the serious blue green algae problem at Killarney Lake and that the effects of this are negatively impacting the community on a social and economic level; and
(w) that the government did not make the necessary changes to expedite the processing of provincial nominee certificates in an attempt to reunite families sooner.