Soviet-era central planners must have supervised the government's policy elves during this spring's session at the Legislature. After all, the overarching theme for the legislation that came forward seemed to be "control" - over everything and anything.

Consider the following legislation that was tabled:

Bill 28 basically makes it impossible for a school division to consolidate schools without the Minister's permission. Although it may sound like a noble piece of legislation, taxpayers must consider what's been happening to enrolment in Manitoba. Over the last ten years, the number of students in our public schools has dropped by about 15,000. Needless to say, there are opportunities in some school divisions to consolidate schools. For example, a school division could consolidate four schools into three and thus save on heating bills, hydro bills, a principal's salary, etc. However, due to the government's legislation, school divisions will no longer be able to make such decisions. All control will now be placed in the Minister's office.

Next is Bill 37. This bill creates a new $2-million government fund for our downtrodden political parties. No need to voluntarily donate to a political party of your choice, the government has decided to do it for you. The other intrusive aspect of the bill is that it regulates how much media outlets can charge political parties for advertising during an election. Who gave the government the right to decide how much independently-owned media outlets can charge for advertisements And who is going to police it It's easy to imagine the creation of a big new "political party advertising fairness and policing department". One can easily envision bureaucrats being hired to make phone calls to media outlets to find out how much they're charging. Perhaps they'll also regulate grocery stores and ensure the food that political parties buy for their volunteer barbeques is sold for a "reasonable" price. Hopefully government policy elves aren't writing those ideas down.

Farmers were also victims of the control regime with Bill 17. Instead of giving hog farms that have waste disposal problems an opportunity to improve their operations, the government has essentially put an expansion freeze on the entire industry. Even though scientists hired by the government spoke out in opposition to the ban and recommended a case-by-case approach, the government seems committed to following through on their legislation. Bill 17 stinks more than the pigs it affects.

A control "seed" was planted with Bill 15 - a piece of legislation that aims to address climate change. Through the bill, the government will create a committee to advise the Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mines on the fuel efficiency of different vehicles. Obviously that department needs access to the "world wide web" where such information is already available for free. It's fair to assume that they're setting the stage for some kind of government involvement in this area. Will it be a ban on certain vehicles or a brand new vehicle tax Apparently the already occurring move in the car market towards more fuel efficient vehicles has escaped the policy elves of our provincial government.

There were some positive initiatives that came forward this spring such as fixed election dates and a reduction in the secrecy period of cabinet documents from 30 to 20 years. (Although the Canadian Taxpayers Federation recommended no cabinet secrecy, the reduction was a step in the right direction.) Unfortunately, the positive changes have been more than offset by the government's heavy-handed control over everything from political donations and school consolidations to the price of advertising.

Some days it seems like this government is just out of control.