The NDP has introduced a bill that should shock and outrage every Manitoban. It jeopardizes democracy, infringes on Charter rights and seeks only to keep the ruling party in power ad infinitum. Bill 37 was stealthily introduced on April 30, hidden amid a flurry of other bills and government announcements and done without consulting political parties, experts or Manitobans. The NDP has cynically disguised it as a positive move that simply sets fixed election dates. Within this Trojan horse, Bill 37 is actually an attempt to fix elections for the NDP.
Contrary to the NDP spin, Bill 37 leaves the call of Manitoba's next election at the whim of the premier. Only after the next provincial election does the bill unreservedly set dates for subsequent elections. We have been calling for set election dates, but the goal of certainty for Manitobans has been lost because Gary Doer refuses to give up his power to call the next election whenever it suits him.
This bill also contains another NDP tax grab. Taxpayers already give political parties $4 million, each and every election, through tax credits and subsidies. The NDP wants to pick your pocket for an additional $500,000 every year -- half of which would go directly to the NDP. Progressive Conservatives believe taxpayers already contribute enough to elections and the onus should be on political parties to earn support through voluntary donations -- not another tax grab. We believe that money would be better spent on health care, public safety or education.
Just as sinister are the NDP proposals to stifle public debate by gagging communications from opposition parties. In 2001, the NDP brought in legislation that put severe limits on advertising by political parties outside election periods. Bill 37 retains these limits, and adds to them by limiting communications from your elected MLA. It gives the NDP government the power to censor communications from MLAs and decide how much of this mail we send. These extraordinary powers to make and enforce the rules are provided to the Legislative Assembly Management Commission, a committee of MLAs dominated by the NDP. Imagine if the Winnipeg Free Press had to let the Winnipeg Sun edit its content before going to press every day! At the same time, the NDP intends to continue millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns to bolster their political fortunes right up until a few weeks before the beginning of the next campaign.
These measures are meant to silence opposition parties and keep voters in the dark about what the government is doing, except for what the government itself wants you to know. It's undemocratic, unconstitutional and puts us on a slippery slope towards a one-party political state.
Finally, Bill 37's provisions dealing with lobbyists puts the fox in charge of the henhouse by putting the NDP cabinet in charge of monitoring lobbyists. The same dysfunctional model was in place when Adscam happened, and was rejected by the Gomery Commission. Giving a cabinet-appointed watchdog the power to monitor meetings involving individual MLAs -- opposition and government alike -- will discourage Manitobans from sharing information with their elected representatives.
The NDP's goal with Bill 37 is to limit your right to know so they can maintain their hold on power. It's designed to prevent opposition parties from telling Manitobans about bad decisions the NDP is making -- quietly hiking Pharmacare rates to punish the sick and the elderly, breaking promises on hallway medicine, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on the next hydro transmission line and scrapping balanced budget legislation. These are things the NDP doesn't want you to know about.
Gary Doer has been in power for so long he thinks he's entitled to preside over our province like a king, with no accountability to his subjects. You have the ability to hold him to account when Bill 37 goes to committee.
Hugh McFadyen is leader of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party and leader of the Official Opposition.
hugh.mcfadyen@leg.gov.mb.ca
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