Bonus blog! Last year's priorities from the throne speech

Premier Heather Stefanson's first throne speech will be delivered (by the Lieutenant Governor) tomorrow around 1:35.  The throne speech opens the legislative session and sets the government's priorities for the session.

I'm planning to attend the 'watch party' (I don't think that's what they're calling it, but it's basically what it is) with the Union over Zoom while we watch the streamed speech.  I've never paid much attention to the provincial throne speech, but I'm getting militant in my old age.  Also I'm a  citizen now, and on strike, so I guess I should be paying more attention in general.

So this evening, I looked up last year's throne speech, in which the LG (speaking for the Premier) laid out five priorities. From the 2020 throne speech

1. "... protecting health care, and vulnerable Manitobans, with record new investments and initiatives ... as we build an even stronger health care system for Manitobans
2. "... protecting jobs by creating more jobs and restarting our economy with new investment and business supports....
3. "... protecting your income by reducing the taxes you pay ...
4. "... protecting education and child care by building a first-class K-12 education system with new schools, increased classroom funding, and more say for parents in their children’s education outcomes and child care choices.
5. "... protecting Manitoba’s financial, environmental and energy futures by pursuing a careful two-term, balanced budget plan to eliminate the COVID-19 deficit while investing more in health care and education and lower taxes, taking more steps for climate action and conservation to protect our province’s environment, and protecting our clean energy advantage with a strong and secure Manitoba Hydro."

Just as an exercise, how well have they done?

The healthcare system is close to the breaking point, and not just because of COVID. Last spring, the government basically demanded that the Nursing programs increase enrollment by 200 spots. The University of Manitoba College of Nursing would accommodate approximately 120 of those spots.  They were given, seriously, 24 hours to submit proposals regarding how they were going to accomplish that. The province continues to undervalue nurses and nursing instructors.

I need to go through my tax records, but the main thing I gained last year is my $433 (or something like that) education tax rebate. This represents a portion of my property tax that is earmarked for public education.  This in an environment when already underpaid teachers spending their own money on classroom supplies is regarded as an 'opportunity' and not an abomination. Like nurses, public school teachers around North America are being asked to do more and more, with less and less.  (I hesitate to point out that these are both professions dominated by women, but it's probably worth mentioning.) I never did figure out a way to donate that money back to the local schools.

Well COVID didn't make things any easier,  but I don't get the feeling from parents and teachers on the ground that any positive changes have occurred. Pallister's idea of giving parents 'more control' was to try to eliminate local elected school boards, which strikes me as the exact opposite of what they claimed they wanted to do.

And we know how priority five is going, seeking to balance the budget on the backs of public sector workers by holding their salaries static. Protecting Manitoba Hydro is a joke, since the PCs have been trying to privatize it for at least as long as I've been in Manitoba.

Thoughts?