Government blames job vacancies, not cuts, for eastern Manitoba infrastructure delays

It's not funding cuts that is behind construction delays on Manitoba infrastructure projects, but a lack of workers, the province says.

In an interview with CBC News on Thursday, Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler blamed the work interruptions in eastern Manitoba on job vacancies, disputing the NDP's allegation that funding cuts are at fault.

During question period earlier in the day, the NDP presented a memo sent to senior officials in Manitoba Infrastructure that listed "ever-diminishing staff allocations and resources" for "missed steps and processes" in the design and construction of capital projects that took too long and cost too much. 

"This has been noticed by senior government and now we need to improve," reads the internal letter from September, which was referring to capital projects in eastern Manitoba. 

NDP leader Wab Kinew framed the delays and cost overages as a consequence of Premier Brian Pallister's cuts.

But the Manitoba government disputes that notion — insisting they cannot hire people fast enough. 

"We understand that the Opposition wants to make that [memo] into more than it is, however we do have a lot of technical positions that we have to fill," Schuler said.

Institutional memory at risk

"Often, we find it difficult to fill some of these positions and I would say we're going to have to be very vigilant as a government to ensure that we don't lose institutional memory before we hire new people."

The department is responsible for building roads, bridges, culverts, drains, dams and reservoirs, among other transportation-related infrastructure.

CBC News requested the number of job openings and a catalogue of the delayed projects, but a government spokesperson was unable to supply that information Thursday. 

The memo asked project managers and engineers to begin filing monthly design reports to ensure projects are finished on time and on budget. 

Schuler said he's seeing a lot of civil servants who have worked for 45 or 50 years starting to retire. 

Private industry appealing

Those vacancies are hard to fill, he said. 

"Keep in mind, we're also competing against the private sector where, often, they earn a lot of really good money, especially when you get into the engineering and sciences."

Schuler insisted the province has not laid off people from Manitoba Infrastructure, aside from the middle managers whose positions were eliminated early in the Progressive Conservatives' governing mandate. 

With files from Sean Kavanagh