Recently, Brian Pallister’s opposition Progressive Conservatives laid out a vision for the province that is quite different than the plan currently being pursued by Greg Selinger’s NDP government.

Pallister described his vision in an “Alternative Throne Speech.”

The speech was largely a rehash of commitments the Tories have announced to date, but it’s a handy tool that summarizes the stark difference between them and the NDP.

At the beginning of the document, Pallister outlines a concern for the province’s debt. It has skyrocketed since the NDP took office so it was positive for the Tories to acknowledge the problem and commit to balancing the budget. Conversely, the Selinger government sees no problem with our province’s ballooning debt or the fact that debt costs could spiral out of control once interest rates rise.

Pallister has also committed to reducing the provincial sales tax (PST) back down to seven per cent by the end of his first term in office. The NDP government of course has committed to keep it at eight per cent for another eight years.

Pallister’s PCs have also promised to not raise the sales tax or income tax hikes without a referendum. Conversely the Selinger government – and each of the MLAs who rebelled recently against the premier – voted to strip Manitobans of their legal right to vote on the sales tax increase.

The Progressive Conservative Party has also pledged to end secret income tax increases known as “bracket creep” (search on YouTube to see how it works). Selinger and the NDP haven’t touched the problem in the last fifteen years and see no problem with raising taxes in a way that most people probably don’t know about.

Pallister and the PCs also promised to join the New West Partnership (a joint effort by the governments of B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan to make it easier for people and businesses to work in the three provinces) and stop forcing non-unionized companies to pay union dues when bidding on government projects. The Selinger government has required non-unionized companies to pay union dues on many projects in the past and the government seems apathetic towards joining the New West Partnership.

While Brian Pallister’s speech was great at focusing on ways to improve economic competitiveness, there wasn’t a lot of depth in terms of spending control.

Pallister committed to “keep” the NDP government’s promise to reduce spending by 1 per cent, to conduct audits to help find waste and reduce useless government advertising. Those are all good ideas. However, they need to provide more information on how they’ll address poor results in health care, education and other areas. There is more than enough money in the system, what will they do differently?

Big picture issues like tackling massive problems with government employee pension plans and the province’s aging population also deserve serious attention. It is simply unacceptable for the government to bumble along without plans for addressing either.

All that being said, Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservative Party has offered a very different vision for the province. While it tiptoed around a few important issues, it’s a step in the right direction.

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