It’s time for the Manitoba Legislature to run with an idea that is straight out of President Obama’s playbook. As you may have heard, the U.S. President has been calling for Republicans and Democrats to put aside their differences and work together to address their nation’s ailing economy.

In Manitoba, our economy is doing fairly well, but we could benefit from that same type of cooperative approach in another way.

In pre-budget meetings with each party, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation suggested the creation of an all-party committee to review spending and identify areas for savings. Thankfully, Finance Minister Greg Selinger, Progressive Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen and Liberal leader Jon Gerrard all seemed open to the idea.

So why does Manitoba need such a review?

First, routinely reviewing the operations of any government is a positive exercise. While opposition parties have an opportunity to scrutinize government spending during the “estimates” process each year, it’s always more of a ‘gotcha’ session than it is a cooperative exercise.  An all-party committee could identify potential asset and land sales, services that could be delivered in a more cost-effective manner by non-profit organizations and the private sector, examine public sector salaries and put forward creative policy solutions from other jurisdictions.

Second, as just about anyone who follows politics knows, there are decisions which governments of all stripes are loath to make for partisan reasons. Having an all-party committee agree on such decisions makes implementing them more likely.

Finally, one only needs to review government spending over the last ten years and how sustainable that trend is for the future.

Consider the fact that in 1999, the provincial government’s operating budget was $6.0-billion. For 2008/09 expenditures had risen to $9.8-billion – a 63% increase. Had spending been capped at inflation and population growth, it would have been approximately $7.7-billion for 2008/09. Cumulative savings from such a cap would have reached $8.9-billion over the last decade. That’s enough to pay-off the province’s core debt ($6.4-billion) and have $2.5-billion left over. This does not even include the savings from debt interest costs each year ($262-million for 2008/09 alone).

Critics will rightly point out that some government costs such as fuel and infrastructure costs have surpassed the inflation rate over the same period. However, meeting even half the goal would have saved $4.5-billion.

From a sustainability perspective, take a quick look at where a good portion of our provincial government’s revenues come from. According to budget documents from 1999 and 2008, handouts to Manitoba from other provincial governments increased from 15.9% ($970-million) of total revenue to 20.9% ($2.1-billion). In other words, the provincial government would go bankrupt if it weren’t for the prosperity of other provinces and the cheques they annually cut to our province.

Suddenly it’s easy to see where some of the funds have come from to pay for all the government infrastructure projects (i.e. Red River College's expansion, University College of the North, new Winnipeg Regional Health Authority buildings, funding for the MTS Centre, etc.) that have occurred over the past decade in Manitoba.

Clearly, if the current economic slowdown persists and the economies of provinces that keep our provincial government afloat are severely hurt, we too will be in serious trouble. Thankfully, all three parties are open to working together to address the problem. Now we just need it to happen.