A recent commentary by the Fraser Institute pointed to the "Rising of the West," which said Canada's western provinces are fast becoming our country's economic engine. Unfortunately when they refer to western provinces, Manitoba is not included on the list.

There are a number of reasons why Manitoba lingers in the have-not column of provinces: we have the highest income taxes west of Quebec; Saskatchewan reduced business taxes thereby blowing Manitoba out of the water on tax competitiveness; Manitoba has rent controls; anti-business and pro-labour policies put forward by Manitoba's government has not fostered an environment where head offices want to create jobs; and an exodus of residents continues to plague the province. In fact if it weren't for immigration, Manitoba would once again have negative out migration.

But there is also one other important aspect that keeps Manitoba back and that is our growing provincial debt. At over $16.2 billion and growing, there is no greater loss to Manitobans than the $282 million for debt servicing costs. Keeping debt on the books has two harmful effects on Manitoba's economy. First, it increases the cost of servicing the debt. Second, it saddles future generations of Manitoba taxpayers with obligations that can only be paid with hard-earned tax dollars. As a result, money that could go to valuable programs is wasted while services, such as chiropractic care, eye exams and physiotherapy, are cut.

Under the existing balanced budget law, $110 million in debt will be paid down this year- it's sort of like making the minimum payment on your credit card, the principle owing just never seems to go down.

In the last 7 years lower interest rates have saved Manitobans millions of dollars in debt servicing costs, but the rates won't stay low forever and the battle to subdue the debt hasn't really begun.

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The Opposition Tories have a new leader and it only took one ballot to get them there. Hugh McFadyen, MLA for Fort Whyte has taken over the leader's chair and is already giving some direction to the rudderless Tory caucus.

Since the beginning of the legislative session, the Opposition Tories and Liberals have been ringing the bells, a tactic the two parties have been using to stall debate in the legislature unless the NDP government calls a public inquiry into the Crocus Investment Fund. These tactics have worked relatively well at annoying the government and has kept the media and public interested in the Crocus file but did not attain the ultimate goal which was to embarrass the government into calling an inquiry.
McFadyen, realizing their efforts were futile, put an end to the bell ringing.

The NDP government has no intention of calling a public inquiry into Crocus in spite of the 34,000 investors that lost money, not to mention the over $72 million in tax credits that have been lost in the ridiculous corporate welfare program.

The only way the government will be truly held accountable on the Crocus file is if the Tories don't drop the ball and make the issue a ballot box question. If not, Manitoba will continue to spend beyond its means, increase debt and give the next generation of taxpayers a big mess to clean up.