Taxes went down on January 1, kudos to the NDP government for carrying through on their promise to allow some Manitobans to keep a little bit more (about $40 more if you earn $35,000) of their hard earned money. But the good news ends there because Manitoba Hydro rates are going up this year.

Minister Polar Bear, a.k.a. Tim Sale, the man responsible for Manitoba Hydro said it was inevitable that rates would go up due to drought and since the rates have remained frozen, it has forced the crown to absorb the interest costs. Yeah right, Tim Sale wouldn't know interest costs if it bit him in the you know where, besides has anyone ever mistaken this NDP government with prudent fiscal management

Rates are not about to skyrocket (about $17 more a year), but as the Winnipeg Sun's Frank Landry put it "this is about principle." There is one reason alone why Hydro's rates are going up this year - the NDP government's spending is out of control. Take for example their raid on Hydro's funds over the last few years, nearly $288 million, it is little wonder why the Crown Corporation's debt has eclipsed the provincial government's debt.

There is also of course the NDP government's ridiculous economic development strategy brought to you by Stupid Investments R Us - a multi- million dollar bailout package for a furniture company, over $9 million for Motor Coach Industries and millions more for the True North/MTS Centre. Politicians would be wiser to lower the tax burden and cutback over-regulation that indentures Manitoba's entrepreneurs to nanny-state governments.

Year after year the biggest spending envelope is health care, it now consumes nearly 40 cents of every tax dollar collected and has increased by more than 8 percent (adjusted for population and inflation) since Doer took power. However since there is little to no leadership in this province to reign in spending or do something logical like a value for money audit of our health care system (sorry Premier Doer, Romanow's report just didn't cut it), the sacred cow will remain untouched and spending shall continue unabated.

Another spending favourite: ethanol plants. In the next couple of years taxpayers will have to dole out over $48 million to subsidize 20 cents of every litre of pure ethanol produced and sold in Manitoba between 2005 and 2007. The province has done very little economic analysis of the ethanol industry, they simply went on the word of the Manitoba Ethanol Advisory Panel, and it is no surprise which way they lean. The arguments for ethanol have been vacuous at best, mostly based on an emotional rant of saving the environment (read: Kyoto). Studies have shown that not only is it more expensive, it takes more energy to produce ethanol.

What other goofy spending odysseys has this government embarked on How about a $213,000 ad campaign to bolster the image of nurses, $350,000 to further support the Northern Forest Diversification Centre, $80,000 for workplace assessment programs that allow employees to identify, document and gain recognition for existing knowledge and skills - I wish one of the thousands of new staffers hired by the government could explain that one to me, $10 million in provincial support for pre-project training initiatives in preparation of the construction of the proposed Manitoba Hydro generating station . . . and on it goes.

So is it the spending Yes, however the situation is made worse with no politician willing to demonstrate the capacity for rationale thought and true leadership.