The new deal or the "new steal" as CJOB's Charles Adler aptly put it, has been thrust into the media spotlight with the force of an atomic bomb. With all of the stories, editorials and op-eds written on the new deal, one question remains unanswered - did Glen talk to Gary

When all is said and done, it will be up to the province to give permission to the City of Winnipeg to levy the dizzying array of new taxes that Mayor Glen wants, yet the Premier has remained suspiciously quiet - except to offer the occasional platitudes on the public consultation process.
Well that is all fine and good Mr. Premier, but if you have no intention of giving tax-and-spend- Glen the authority to levy these new taxes, then why not stop him dead in his tracks before he decided to spend a million bucks on a PR campaign

Obviously the public consultation process is the way to go, in fact the CTF is one of the biggest proponents of going to the public before a major policy initiative is implemented (read: True North, urban reserves, Kyoto) the concern is that even when the consultations are completed, the people will still have no say as prescribed in our Balanced Budget, Debt Repayment and Taxpayer Accountability Act.

This concern stems from the first public meeting held in St. James where a member of Murray's staff clearly stated that they might have found a way to circumvent the Act.
Currently, the Act shields taxpayers from rate hikes in personal income taxes,
sales taxes, corporation taxes, and payroll taxes unless the increases are put to a vote. To their credit, the NDP government has remained committed to this very important piece of legislation, yes it is questionable how they have balanced the books, but the fact they have done so is noteworthy. But the Act in Manitoba has not been extended to the scope of municipalities like it has been in other jurisdictions. Local taxpayer protection provisions are found in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.

Yours truly had an opportunity to go on CBC Snoozeworld and ask Murray a question. It was somewhat similar to a question posed to the Mayor at the public forum: "what assurances do Winnipeg taxpayers have that a future mayor and council won't turn around and increase property and business taxes and increase the user fees every year " Of course Murray's response was vacuous at best.

In the final analysis, Winnipeg's "new deal" in whatever form it morphs into by the end of the public consultations, will have major provincial implications. Since the province ultimately bears the responsibility of allowing the city to levy new taxes, this debate needs to be thrown back into the province's court - so what do you want to be Gary - a tax cutter or a tax increaser

Tax fact: An inter-provincial survey comparing the impact of provincial and federal income taxes shows that Manitobans pay the eighth highest income taxes among the ten provinces.