View From the Legislature

A very brief and strange session of the Manitoba Legislature wrapped up on Tuesday of this week and it left many people wondering what the whole exercise was about.

Shortly after the October 4th provincial election, NDP leader Greg Selinger indicated that he was unlikely to recall the Manitoba Legislature until November. Then he did a quick about-face and indicated that the Legislature would be quickly called back for October 20th, even before all of the election results were finalized.

The expectation was that Premier Selinger must have something urgent and pressing to deal with. Apparently not. For the first time in as long as anyone can remember, a legislative sitting ended without the government introducing a single piece of legislation or a single resolution. In fact, the brief nine day session consisted of nothing more than the NDP government restating in a Throne Speech what it had already stated in the election.

Media members and long-time observers of the Manitoba Legislature where left scratching their heads wondering what exactly Mr. Selinger was looking to accomplish during a session in which essentially no substantive government business was introduced.

And it’s not as though there weren’t things to be dealt with. During the brief session the City of Winnipeg tied a record for the number of homicides in one year at 34. With two months left in the year, it’s highly likely a new homicide record will be set and yet the NDP government introduced no ideas or initiatives to reduce violent crime.

Also during the short session of the Legislature it was revealed that more than 20,000 Manitobans who visited an Emergency Room last year left before being seen by a doctor. No doubt some of these left out of frustration because of the wait, thereby putting their own health at risk. And yet, Mr. Selinger brought forward no new initiatives to deal with this issue.

Questions arose during the past week about changes to the homecare system in Manitoba and the stress that this is putting on clients. And yet, despite Mr. Selinger rushing back to the Manitoba Legislature, he had nothing to offer Manitobans in the way of answers to these concerns.

Not only is it strange that Premier Selinger rushed back to the Legislature with no agenda, it seems clear from his comments that he doesn’t expect to have an agenda anytime soon. He has not announced a date when the Legislature is expected to come back into session and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to set one.

If early indicators are a predictor of what is to come, it appears the NDP doesn’t have much of an idea where to take Manitoba over the next four months let alone over the next four years.