“We owe a great tribute to John A. Macdonald, and we need to remember that it took a dream to build this country. There’s a lot of power in dreams,” declared Manitoba Premier, the Hon. Brian Pallister, addressing the luncheon in Virden, Monday, Jan. 16.
Arthur-Virden MLA Doyle Piwniuk introduced Premier Pallister to a room full of municipal leaders and Conservative Party members.
Pallister endorsed MLA Piwniuk, who is also the Deputy Speaker in the Legislature.
“I’ve always admired hardworking people and I want to start by saying, ‘you’ve got a hard working MLA. Doyle has taken on every task that’s been assigned to him. More than that, he’s volunteered for others’.”
He hit a sweet spot, and received applause, referring to a management review of Manitoba’s government operations which he instituted when he took office.
Pallister spoke of making dreams happen and likened turning the province’s financial deficit around, to the turning of an ocean going aircraft carrier. When going full-steam the ship actually requires seven miles to make the turn-around.
Pallister asked party faithfulls for patience as he explained a number of lean measures the government is undertaking; along with small personal tax reductions.
The crowd listened intently in Virden’s St. Mary’s Anglican Church hall as Pallister spoke of cautious lowering of taxes, downsizing government, and honouring outgoing NDP’s last six months of large infrastructure contracts, all the while wrestling with the deficit.
“They signed as many in deals in the last six months as they signed six years prior to that. Over a hundred million dollars, all locked up and we’ve got to honour those deals.”
Pallister has launched a performance review of every single department. “Not just to save money,” he said, “to improve services. We’re reviewing health care as well.”
While front line services haven’t improved in areas like healthcare or education, yet, “at the top, we’ve gotten bigger and bigger and bigger”.
The performance advisory committee report is due soon. Pallister is expecting “lots of common sense suggestions, things we can do better”.
He challenged Manitobans on a growing entitlement culture - expecting handouts to keep business going.
“If the only way you’re going to employ people is if I take money from everybody else and hand it to you,” he gazed around the room, “then don’t come to my office.”
He acknowledged Manitoba’s challenges – like lengthy wait times, even in the city of Winnipeg, which he termed as “the worst line-ups in Canada, bar-none,” adding, “and their waits, as you well know, are shorter than for most people in rural and northern Manitoba.”
From an initial design which would see federal and provincial healthcare funding at 50/50, he says it is now at 19 percent for federal funding.
“I am fighting to get the federal government to honour its commitments to Manitoba, on health care.”
In a brief question period, Councillor for RM of Grasslands, Claude Martin from Hartney spoke of the past flood disaster, and of the impending of flooding this spring, asking if he would be able to reach the Premier’s office. Pallister pointed him to Minister of Infrastructure Blaine Pederson, who was also present in the room.
Leigh Smith, a farmer north of Oak Lake questioned the future of a carbon tax which he says agricultural producers would simply have to absorb, with no way to pass on.
The Premier termed over-taxation and tangles of red tape a disincentive to work harder - a dream stealer.
He finished intently, “No longer is it going to be acceptable in the Manitoba of the future to send debt - millions and billions of dollars -ahead to young people who haven’t even had the chance yet to pay their taxes, or to work here, or to make a home here.”
Virden was one stop on the Premier’s tour of western Manitoba including Swan River, Dauphin, Neepawa, Shoal Lake, Portage la Prairie, and Brandon where he was a featured speaker at Brandon’s Ag days.
