The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Are you tired of hearing objections to government bills in the Manitoba Legislature? The Opposition continues to object to several of the latest brilliant proposals of the Doer government. Bill 37 is the most talked about. It was touted by the premier as setting fixed election dates to encourage more to vote as well as giving money to all parties, supposedly to encourage democracy. But there is much more to it. The fixed dates seem to be popular these days, but as writers like Sid Green point out, they can create a problem when the government and leadership are collapsing, very unpopular or proposing things the public will not buy. If there is a revolt in the legislature, members cannot call an election, nor can the government go to the people for approval of their policies. The bill was not previewed with the Opposition as one of this type should have been, but was sprung on them at the end of the day. Under the proposed Ôvote taxÕ, $1.25 per vote, per year will be given to each party and cost the Manitoba taxpayer over a half-million dollars annually. For example, the NDP will get a million dollars in the next four years and the Tories $800,000 Ð with not a dime of it donated. As well, a party could spend only $75,000 per year on advertising and would have their mail-outs censored by a government-dominated committee (with no limits on government advertising except during an election). The Tories promised to use their money for a court challenge if the bill was not amended. The federal government has similar vote taxes, and of course the parties get more money. The Conservatives get over $2.5 million a quarter while the Liberals get $2.1 million. The NDP receives $1.2 million and the Bloc Quebecois gets $742,000. The Greens, who have never elected an MP, take in over $317,000. What about Bill 38? Some think it is even worse than Bill 37. That bill would end the need for balanced budgets, allow the NDP to run deficits, and allow Crown corporations like Hydro and MPIC to be forced to give money to the government. ManitobaÕs billion-dollar hog industry, already in serious trouble because of U.S. restrictions, is also fighting against Bill 17, the NDP proposal to restrict expansion of the hog business in Manitoba. In a well financed and powerful advertising campaign, the Manitoba Pork Council is asking Manitobans to help defeat the bill, which they claim is farm, rural and business unfriendly. They ask, ÒWhat will be next?Ó To see more, go to their website at www.unfriendlymanitoba.ca. What will happen? On a political basis, the NDP is pretty unpopular in farming areas and is more concerned with their urban votes. They will gain little by being nice to the pork council, but you can only have so many enemies. Restrictive dictatorships like Burma and China have votes but no democracy, which is really what the bills mentioned are part of. They will go through our democratic system and either be accepted, changed, defeated or overturned by the next government. In the two countries mentioned, such processes are unheard of. Burma went from the richest country in the region to the poorest after the military dictatorship took over in 1962, and has remained hostile to the world and its own people. The cyclone that killed 100,000, and the restrictions its rulers set to avoid aid workers, food and supplies coming in, is a major disaster. So is the failure of the Western nations and the UN to follow the ÔResponsibility to Protect DoctrineÕ and force aid to Burma, as its rulers are not protecting their citizens. In contrast, China, the most powerful non-democratic country in the world, made major efforts to help its people displaced by the disastrous earthquakes, but they have the resources and have used them. Nevertheless, arenÕt we lucky to be living in a civilized country, allowed to debate and worry about things like election expenses and the pork industry? RogerÕs Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
