Right in the centre - A refreshing change


By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

It would be a refreshing change if, in the upcoming provincial election, political parties actually admitted their mistakes and then listed the things they know very well they can’t fix. I welcome other opinions or arguments. Discussion and debate is a good thing. Let’s list some examples that would be refreshing, some what ifs.

•If parties admitted that no matter how much publicity they put into controlling zebra mussels, that it’s a lost cause. Zebra mussels will do what they do and to spend more time and effort on them is futile.

•If parties would admit that they can’t afford everything they promise.

•If the NDP would just admit that they almost bankrupted the province between 1999 and 2016.

•If all parties would stop giving money to corporations. It’s called corporate welfare, David Lewis was right (if anyone can remember David Lewis).

•If the NDP and PCs would admit they have basically dumbed down our education standards to a point of embarrassment. The Liberals are off the hook on this one, as the last time they formed government was in the mid 1950s.

•If the NDP and PCs would tell Winnipeg to fix their sewer system and quit dumping human waste into the Red and Assiniboine Rivers and Lake Winnipeg. It’s their sewage, not ours, so Winnipeg should pay, not rural and northern Manitoba.

•If the parties would all stand up to ill-informed bureaucrats and allow the careful and proper use of Bluestone to control algae in lakes like Lake Irwin, Killarney and many others.

•If political parties actually cared about homelessness, the meth crisis and crime, would that be refreshing?

•If some government departments actually said they could use less money or even dissolve themselves.

•If MMSM and the political parties admitted that recycling in Manitoba wavers between being a farce and a failure.

•If the NDP kicked the unions out of the party and let union members be involved with the political party of their choice.

•If the PCs would actually consistently allow open nomination meetings where the members actually had a say in who the candidate would be. (Note: Nomination meetings are sometimes quite open, but sometimes are very much controlled by the party leadership.)

•If all the political parties would allow free votes on all matters, except perhaps the budget

•If the PCs and NDP (Liberals escape again) would set a proper transportation policy and fix the roads. The towns and villages should fix their own roads and not wait on the province to do so. If some so-called paved roads have to go back to being gravel, so be it.

•Speaking of roads, why are we still paving with trucks and shovels? Why not research and use the pavement trains that grind, re-use and re-lay pavement in one pass. It should be much faster and more efficient.

•Would it not be much better if governments and political parties actually spent their advertising dollars with Manitoba newspapers and Manitoba radio and TV stations, instead of on social media?

Just some ideas to stir up discussion. Elections get pretty boring with daily promises to spend more money. How about saving some money by admitting that some things just haven’t succeeded and why do them again?

Disclaimer: The writer serves as a volunteer chairman of the Manitoba Community Newspaper Association. The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being  the view of the MCNA board or Banner & Press staff.