Kerry Auriat, Brandon Sun - Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Premier Greg Selinger never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

With Manitoba on the brink of financial ruin, rather than use this crisis as an opportunity to remake government, Selinger and his mates chose to bring forward a technically illegal budget that ensures we stick to a mantra of mediocrity now and forever.

When faced with a crisis, there are two choices — to surrender or to fight. In the case of this deficit crisis, Selinger, Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk and friends surrendered.

For this lack of vision, they may never recover and, sadly, they’re taking us along with them.

While this government knew a massive deficit was looming, Selinger should have viewed this unfolding scenario as the perfect storm. It truly is a perfect maelstrom of bad news — falling tax revenues and flat transfer payments contrasted with increasing heath, education and social services expenses. The math doesn’t work.

Worse still, we’re not using deficits to fundamentally improve the future of our province. Selinger isn’t making bold investments to improve the quality of education and health-care outcomes. It has been decades since Manitoba built a new dam. Are we encouraging oil production and funding new potash mines? None of the above is happening. We’re simply bankrupting our children’s futures in order to put off tough decisions today.

There’s both human capital and physical capital.

I believe in education and health care as important investments in human capital just as I believe in a new dam as a physical investment in our province’s future.

But we have to ensure that we’re investing in people and not confuse that with simply spending money.

I would accept a deficit if we were courageously investing in the future. Can you imagine Manitoba 15 years hence if we had world-class education and health-care facilities, hydro dams, potash mines and oil fields that would ensure a prosperous and progressive future for all Manitobans?

Sadly, thanks to the current leadership, the prospects of such a future look grim.

Debt is a tool. A mortgage is good debt. The house appreciates in value and the investment pays off. But consumer debt used to finance an unsustainable lifestyle is a bear trap baited with honey — it tastes good in the short term but watch out for the surprise.

There’s a huge difference between consumer debt and mortgage debt. This government is racking up consumer debt and selling it to us as investments in our province. Don’t confuse spending and investing — there’s a big difference.

We’re living beyond our means. We are unwilling and unable to face this fact. There will be a day of reckoning.

We need to review our health-care system with a fine-tooth comb looking for inefficiencies, waste, fraud and abuse.

Approximately 60 per cent of our provincial budget is dedicated to this money pit — is every dollar being well spent? We need to judge results, not simply count dollars spent as a measure of our commitment.

Let’s put more dollars into preventative medicine that saves Manitobans from costly health-care remedies — this is an investment in human capital.

Saskatchewan provides its residents with a basic personal exemption of $13,348 compared to Manitoba’s $8,134 personal exemption.

Why is this important?

Because working people in Saskatchewan can earn over $5,000 more than similar Manitobans before the tax man comes calling.

In Manitoba, we talk about helping working people, but this basic personal exemption is a clear case of the rhetoric failing to match the reality.

I never thought I’d view Saskatchewan with envy.

This economic crisis has afforded Selinger an opportunity to chart a new course for Manitoba’s future.

We should consider triple “p” partnerships with private enterprise to finance hydro dams. How about new royalty arrangements in the oil patch that will stimulate investment and create new jobs?

Did the potash deposits in Saskatchewan stop at the Manitoba border or have we failed to develop mines on our side? Now is the time to re-energize our province. In doing so, we increase innovation, productivity, create new jobs and wealth.

Some will argue that my ideas are too aggressive. You may be correct, but the same old, same old is giving us the same old results. We’ve lived too long on borrowed money.

In closing, I’d like to share one of my favourite expressions of all time.

To paraphrase Bobby Kennedy: “There’s a special place in hell reserved for those who, in time of a crisis, choose to sit on the fence.”