Some are questioning the lack of specifics in the provincial government’s speech from the throne.
Tuesday’s annual agenda gave Premier Brian Pallister and the Progressive Conservatives a chance to look back at what they’ve accomplished in office so far and to lay out their road-map for the year ahead.
READ MORE: Manitoba government releases its agenda for 2018 with focus on cutting costs, health care
But the opposition party and the mayor of the biggest city in the province is speaking about the lack of details on how the Tories will accomplish those goals.
NDP Leader Wab Kinew also touched on the lack of details.
“What’s missing is a plan to create the jobs of the future from the provincial government,” Kinew said.
Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont agreed.
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“A lot of these things have been announced three or four times already,” Lamont said on Tuesday. “They were campaign promises, they were in the first throne speech, the second throne speech, and now they’re in the third throne speech.
“Why do we think they would actually deliver on any of these promises now?”
In the fall 2016 speech, the Conservatives promised measures to improve the “entire health system.” Six months later, the government announced a complete heath care overhaul, which included emergency room closures.
But the promises and lack of specifics weren’t just limited to the Tories: the previous NDP government’s speech in 2012 had an entire section about “protecting your pocketbook,” where it boasted of low utility rates and debt levels. What it didn’t include was mention of the PST being raised a percentage point, which happened just six months later.
READ MORE: Pallister talks hiking accident: ‘2017 has been a pretty sh—y year for vacations for me and my wife’
Monday’s speech included talk of reducing the civil service, re-jigging funding to municipalities, improving child welfare, and ongoing health care reform.
One of the clear messages was the Pallister government wants to do better than previous governments.
WATCH: Manitoba’s Throne Speech focuses on ‘better’-ing the province
In fact, the word ‘better’ appeared in the speech 36 times. A few of the mentions included “our mandate is to do better because Manitobans deserve better”, “better health care, sooner, remains our government’s top service priority” and “we are reforming our family law system to better protect parents and children.”
In one sentence, the word ‘better’ was mentioned three times: “we will engage and work with communities, experts and service providers to support innovative solutions and better care, best practices, better outcomes, and better integration of programs.”
Other frequently-used words included 42 mentions of ‘Manitobans’. ‘Improve’ was brought up 13 times, and ‘health care’ was said seven times.
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