Legislature resumes with premier attacking NDP and Ottawa By: Jessica Botelho-Urbanski Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2019

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/03/2019 (2124 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 41st session of the Manitoba legislature resumed Wednesday with the introduction of a new bill, a war of words on procurement practices and some unusual behavioural ticks.

Government MLAs could be heard growling across the room as opposition critics raised their voices to ask questions.

At one point, Premier Brian Pallister pushed a document tabled by Liberal leader Dougald Lamont – a printout of a CTV news story – off the front of his desk.

Needless to say, any back-to-school type of nostalgia wore off quickly.

Pallister delivered an opening ministerial statement attacking both the former NDP government for alleged ethical lapses and the current federal government for its handling of the SNC-Lavalin affair.

“The federal government seems to have replaced their moral compass with a political compass, Madame Speaker, and that is eerily reminiscent of the behaviour of the previous government of this province,” the premier said.

“…In 2014, the previous NDP administration chose to eliminate safeguards that would have protected Manitobans from their government doing business with companies that would have been suspended or blocked from bids due to ethical, criminal or performance issues. The previous government did this for no apparent reason and they never told the public they were doing it,” he alleged.

Pallister noted the lack of safeguards left Manitobans “unprotected from fraud and abuse in the procurement process.”

The premier wouldn’t stick around afterward to answer media questions about his statement, except to say the government was continuing to investigate what happened and would provide more information in the coming days.

NDP infrastructure critic Jim Maloway fired back after Pallister’s statement, citing two examples of procurement issues involving Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler.

Last month, Schuler’s department awarded a government air services contract to a company with strong Tory ties, Exchange Income Corp., which has former premier Gary Filmon as chair of its board of directors. Schuler has said the contract was awarded by the Treasury Board secretariat with “no political interference.”

The minister also apologized in February for a lack of oversight on two untendered, multi-million-dollar roadwork contracts issued last year.

“The Pallister government’s approach to procurement is unacceptable and as much as the premier is trying to place the blame on his minister of transportation, they happened within his cabinet and therefore are his responsibility,” Maloway said.

Meantime, Lamont reiterated concerns about conflict of interest legislation in Manitoba needing a serious overhaul.

“We’ve been talking about the fact that we need – Manitoba’s ethics laws are completely inadequate, they’re outdated, they’re from 1985. And this government has done absolutely everything they can to do nothing about improving them,” he told reporters.

As for what’s to come this sitting, the government has signalled intentions to table at least nine bills. They include amendments to the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Amendment Act affecting cider and cooler sales at beer vendors, and new rules on cannabis possession.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen also plans to introduce amendments to the Police Services Act involving institutional safety officers.

To cap off the first day’s sitting, the NDP introduced a motion to condemn the federal government and the prime minister “for politically interfering in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin” and to condemn the “poor and inappropriate treatment” of the former attorney general of Canada, Jody Wilson-Raybould. They also called for a public inquiry “to provide Canadians the answers they deserve.”

The motion received overwhelming Tory and NDP support with 46 votes in favour. Only one person voted against the move – Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard – while the three other Liberal MLAs – Cindy Lamoureux, Judy Klassen and Lamont – didn’t show up to vote.

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu