Government In-fighting Casts Doubt On Fall Sitting Of Legislature

Brian Pallister

In-fighting among the governing N-D-P threatens to wipe out the fall sitting of the Manitoba legislature.

Five government cabinet ministers said earlier this week that Premier Greg Selinger should consider resigning in the wake of weak opinion polls for the N-D-P government. The situation has cast some uncertainty as to whether M-L-As will be recalled.

Government house leader Andrew Swan was asked repeatedly whether the government will hold a fall sitting, which normally starts in mid-November. Swan was non-committal on the issue.

Manitoba Tory leader Brian Pallister says the Selinger government has lost its focus and has become dysfunctional.

"The N-D-P are debating all the wrong things," said Pallister. "They're fighting about a poll. They're fighting about their best chances of hanging on to their jobs, but they're not debating the issues that matter most to Manitobans, like taxes that are excessively high, and paying the most and getting the least for the services they value. This is what Manitobans want us to debate."

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Jennifer Howard says she and the other ministers are not resigning and will meet with the premier again to discuss their concerns.

Justice Minister Andrew Swan and Jobs Minister Theresa Oswald echoed that sentiment, and say their group has agreed not to publicly discuss the matter until they meet with Selinger.

Pallister says all the infighting within the N-D-P is taking up the valuable time and energy of the government which could be better spent debating some very important issues in the legislature.

"We have the worst education results in Canada and we have the longest waits for health care in Canada and we've got a government that put up bill boards for $500,000 telling Manitobans that we've got steady growth and good jobs, when we're ninth," said Pallister. "I mean come on, let's get to work and let's get back respecting the people of our province."