The good news? Left-wingers and right-wingers finally agree on something.
The bad news? It’s a policy that makes life less equitable in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
In 2012, Manitoba’s then-NDP government terminated an annual subsidy of about $4 million to keep Greyhound bus service running at an adequate level, mainly in the northern region.
In rough terms, the tab came to 0.04 per cent of total provincial spending.
The NDP knew full well that northerners relied on the Greyhound service to attend medical appointments in Winnipeg and to visit family and friends in other communities.
They just didn’t care. The idea of propping up a major company like Greyhound was anathema to the party’s anti-corporate values – which is kind of silly since the NDP had no problem handing out exploration subsidies to the deep-pocketed Hudbay.
Greyhound service in northern Manitoba is a shadow of its former self. If you want to take the bus from Flin Flon to Winnipeg, or vice-versa, your only option is a nearly 12-hour overnight ride on a weekday.
There is no longer a Flin Flon-Thompson bus or a Flin Flon-Snow Lake bus, despite the fact that both pairings of communities have long-established familial and business ties.
During the 2016 election campaign, Flin Flon PC MLA candidate Angela Enright rightly took aim at the NDP for yanking the Greyhound subsidy.
Yet it should be noted that even though Enright lost the election, there is nothing preventing her friends in the PC government from reviving the subsidy.
Across the border, the right-leaning Saskatchewan Party government just
announced plans to shut down Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) on May 31.
The Saskatchewan Party government points to low STC ridership and a need to reduce spending as its rationale.
The closure of STC, a Crown corporation, is expected to save some
$17 million a year, or about 0.12 per cent of total provincial spending.
STC runs regular buses between Creighton and Prince Albert. From Prince Albert, riders can hop a bus to other points across Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Party government knows full well that northerners rely on STC to attend medical appointments in Saskatoon and to visit family and friends in other communities.
They just don’t care. The idea of the government owning an unprofitable bus company is anathema to the party’s anti-socialist values – which is kind of silly since the Sask Party has no problem operating government-owned telephone and electricity companies.
There you have it. Two philosophies, the same result: northern residents, especially those with low incomes or mobility issues, lose out.
Cutting bus service in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan is particularly heartless considering the obvious, ongoing need for northerners to visit large southern centres for medical care.
For many patients, the NDP cuts in Manitoba have turned the need to see a specialist into nearly 24 hours on an overnight bus. One wonders whether patients are ignoring symptoms to avoid such an ordeal.
But at least patients in Flin Flon and northern Manitoba still have an option. Unless a private company steps in, Creighton will soon have no transit connection to the rest of the province.
How will Creighton area residents get to medical appointments then? If the Saskatchewan Party government cares about their plight, they’re not showing it.
The Saskatchewan government has a duty to maintain STC. The Manitoba government has an obligation to restore full bus services against the wishes of the now-opposition NDP.
Not everything the government does needs to turn a profit or impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Sometimes spending is required not because of popular demand, but because it’s the right thing to do.
This is one of those times.
