Health policy, teachers' contracts, stronger meth penalties on agenda as Manitoba PCs meet in Brandon
Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives will review more than 2 dozen policy ideas at their annual convention
The party's coffers are full, it's leading in the polls and it faces no apparent leadership turmoil.
As Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives cruise toward their third year in office, even the policy agenda for the party's annual meeting, which began Friday afternoon in Brandon, suggests a machine ticking along with a steady hum.
The governing Tories don't face any issues quite like the New Democratic Party did at its last convention in Brandon, when the Opposition party released an internal review of harassment that described an "atmosphere of fear and loyalty" when the NDP was in office.
The PC party has recently managed to side-step deeper controversy over the behaviour of Emerson MLA Cliff Graydon by booting him from its caucus and removing him from the board of Manitoba Hydro over controversy around comments he made to female staffers.
Premier Brian Pallister may face external heat for cancelling Manitoba's carbon tax or frosty relations with Ottawa, but there are no public rumblings of internal dissension from the PC Party membership.
Resolution calls for 1 bargaining unit for school divisions
The list of policy considerations for delegates to the PC convention range from crime to education to health and beyond.
One resolution says meth dealers and traffickers should face stiffer penalties.
On the labour front, the party will be asked to consider a resolution calling for one bargaining unit to negotiate contracts for all school divisions. It's a policy initiative the government is actively pursuing, though it has yet to make good on its plans.
Another resolution focused on organized labour calls for unions to be added to the list of organizations that must register for the lobbyist registry.
'Decisive action' on compensation payments
As the Progressive Conservative government continues with its significant changes to Manitoba's health-care system, party members will also vote on a motion to support efforts to prevent risk factors associated with heart disease among women and boost the number of geriatric physicians working in the various regional health authorities across the province.
Meanwhile, as Premier Pallister faces criticism from the Manitoba Metis Federation for cancelling a second agreement with the MMF late in October, a resolution calls on the government to take "decisive action to end the practice of paying compensation to prevent Manitobans from exercising their right to raise legitimate concerns."
Those words echo Pallister's explanation for cancelling the deal with the MMF earlier this week.
"The Métis federation and all Métis Manitobans have the right to participate in processes. They fought hard for those rights and we respect that enough to make sure we won't make payments to stop them from exercising those rights, now or in the future," Pallister said on Wednesday.
Some policy ideas don't seem to be attached to specific ideology, such as "encouraging the expansion of hydro sales to the rest of Canada" — an idea that should appeal to a broad section of Manitobans.
Other resolutions carry on the policy flag the Tories ran on in 2016, including a resolution that calls for "keeping taxes low while continuing to reduce the deficit so more money can be better spent on the priorities of Manitobans."
The party's AGM wraps up on Saturday evening.