View From the Legislature

Years ago, before I was elected to the Manitoba Legislature, I recall speaking with a then Progressive Conservative MLA. It was not long after the 1999 election where the NDP had formed government, and this long time P.C. MLA was making the transition from government to opposition. I remember asking this veteran MLA what to expect from the new NDP government.

He was very accommodating with his time and as a relatively young person learning about Manitoba politics, I was eager to hear his perspective. I took a number of things away from that conversation, but one thing that I will always remember is the veteran MLA saying that what the NDP usually get defeated on in elections is their mismanagement of the provincial finances and their mismanagement of the provincial Crown Corporations. “Keep an eye on the Crowns,” I vividly recall him saying.

It would be many years after that conversation that the NDP would eventually lose power but without question, a very significant part of that loss was the skyrocketing provincial debt which led to the increase in the provincial sales tax by then Premier Greg Selinger and the mismanagement of Crown Corporations. The later mismanagement at the provincial Crown Corporations was especially seen with the increase in insurance rates at MPI and the huge debt increases at Manitoba Hydro. Hydro’s debt was driven largely by poor building decisions including the routing of the Bi-Pole III transmission line which cost Manitobans billions more than was needed.

The words “Keep an eye on the Crowns” from the former veteran P.C. MLA have been ringing in my ear the past couple of weeks as, only a year into their mandate, we are seeing some of the results of NDP decisions. The first came with the nearly record increase in Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) auto rates that were announced in the first week of January. The 5.7% increase is a very sharp reversal from the financial position of MPI the NDP inherited when they came into government. In fact, in the early days of the NDP government they acknowledged that the books were so good at the public insurer that Manitobans could very well expect a rebate. Far from a rebate, they are being hit with one of the largest increases in Manitoba history.

Over at Manitoba Hydro, the NDP have started to use public dollars to advertise a rate freeze that hasn’t even been approved by the Public Utilities Board, which ultimately has to sign off on Hydro rates. Quite apart from the wisdom of using public dollars to advertise a rate freeze that hasn’t even been approved, the reality is that Manitoba Hydro is losing hundreds of millions of dollars. While the NDP started the fiscal year promising Manitobans that Hydro would make close to $200 million this year, they are now saying that they will likely lose close to $200 million. That is on top of the more than $150 million Hydro lost the previous year.

This has consumer watchdogs concerned that even if the one-year rate freeze is approved, a rate shock is coming for Hydro customers as losses at Hydro pile up and the debt continues to increase. The NDP Minister responsible for Hydro was unable to provide any sense of just how high Hydro rates are going to have to go next year as losses increase.

And this is just the financial picture at two Crown Corporations. It doesn’t even begin to consider the record deficits that are being run up in the main part of government by the NDP. It is still relatively early in the NDP government’s mandate, but it isn’t too early to heed the warning of a former veteran MLA. Watch the provinces finances and “Keep an eye on the Crowns.”