Some things are best left untouched but that won't stop Premier Doer from meddling in the affairs of the 16 municipalities that make up the Manitoba Capital Region. The province's Regional Planning Advisory Committee (RPAC) is expected to release a report during the Winnipeg civic election campaign that will redefine inter-municipal points of contact on environmental issues, development patterns and shared-services, including tax-sharing.

The report is the Doer government's latest excuse to play central planner for the Capital Region and redistribute the goodies to friends of the NDP. That Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray's name springs to mind should come as no surprise.

Murray and Doer may have their pillow fights now and then but they agree on revitalizing core-area Winnipeg through income-redistribution. And what better way than by making Winnipeg's neighbours the whipping boy.

Doer's not-so-subtle agenda to corral developers inside city limits will strip the Capital Region of its most redeeming qualities: its safety valve function for people who don't care for Winnipeg but enjoy living in Manitoba, and; the inter-municipal competition that keeps property taxes in check.

Families looking to buy a home will have less choice. And homeowners who bought outside the city may be punished with new tax-sharing schemes. The Capital Region will surely lose its vitality if development is whisked away.

If you don't believe there is a hidden agenda to manipulate population migrations and development projects you're right. It's not hidden at all. Just crack open RPAC's latest discussion paper called "Strengthening Manitoba's Capital Region."

The report is unapologetic in its recommendations of a two-tier system of governance in the Region. It works like this: The city and the province call all the shots. That means that Winnipeg gets to feast at the banquette of residential and commercial developments while the rest of the Region is fed the scraps.

"The renewal and revitalization of the inner city of Winnipeg should be a priority. New land uses viewed by the City of Winnipeg and the provincial government, as leading to further deterioration of the inner city should be discouraged," reads the report.

In other words, the other 15 municipalities are locked out of a decision making process on developments now reserved for the central planners in city and the province.

The report also recommends a bias for urban developments in two well-known NDP strongholds. "In order to help revitalize the downtowns of Winnipeg and Selkirk, residential development should be encouraged to locate in and near their downtowns."

The report goes on to imply Winnipeg's inner-city problems stem from development outside the perimeter highway.

One of RPAC's stated "over-riding" goals is "that Winnipeg, as the dominant municipality in the region, should remain strong and vibrant- Most of the development in the region occurs because of the very existence of Winnipeg.- Winnipeg should not be diminished by the actions, or indeed the inaction of governments in the region."

No one would object to a strong and vibrant Winnipeg so long as reform is rooted within city government, but not on someone else's dime.

Worse yet is the fear of tax sharing models that could harmonize mill rates throughout the Region or tack on a special tax levy on non-Winnipeg homeowners.

"Some form of inter-municipal tax sharing may be appropriate for the Capital Region. The provincial government should continue to investigate tax-sharing models," recommends the RPAC report.

Levying more property taxes or stripping residential development away from the La Salles and East St. Pauls of the Region and herding it back into Winnipeg is a band-aide solution that deals only with the symptoms of Winnipeg's stagnant growth.

Winnipeg's uncompetitive property taxes within the Region and among large cities across the country are a major deterrent to new developments and to retaining people inside city limits. When Winnipeg City Council gets serious about making this city an oasis on the prairies with a competitive property and business tax structure, the province won't need another report from another central planning committee.