Manitoba Minute: Issue 119

Manitoba Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Manitoba politics.

📅 This Week In Manitoba: 📅

• Manitoba's cut to the provincial sales tax on store-bought food took effect on July 1st. Most groceries were already tax-exempt, but the 7% PST no longer applies to products such as chips, rotisserie chickens and baked goods sold at grocery and convenience stores, though it is still charged at restaurants, bakeries and bars. The NDP government says the change could save the average family $100 a year. The Opposition Progressive Conservatives say the cut serves only to make junk food cheaper while doing little to help family finances. Business groups, including Restaurants Canada and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, want the policy expanded, arguing the current rules put restaurants at a disadvantage. Shoppers interviewed by CBC News were split on the impact, with one mother of four reporting she saved about $5 on a nearly $300 grocery bill.
  
  
• US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra met with Premier Wab Kinew in Winnipeg on June 26th, a meeting the Premier's office says was requested by the ambassador. The two discussed agriculture, mining, steel, energy, the aerospace sector and Churchill, according to a spokesperson for the Premier. Kinew declined a request to speak to CBC News about the meeting. Hoekstra has made a series of provocative statements since being appointed by US President Donald Trump, including suggesting that making Canada the 51st state would be a good topic of discussion for Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney has said he would not respond or react to every US provocation.
  
  
• The Manitoba Teachers' Society is petitioning the federal government to make it illegal to deny, downplay or justify the harms of residential schools. The union's e-petition on the House of Commons website gathered more than 2,500 signatures over a 120-day campaign that closed on July 2nd, calling for more federal funding to combat anti-Indigenous hate and endorsing a private member's bill from Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan. The bill would make it a criminal offence to publish statements promoting hatred against Indigenous people by condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the residential school system, similar to an existing Criminal Code offence related to promoting antisemitism. Lillian Klausen, who represents 17,000 public school teachers across the province, says educators are concerned denialism is alive and well in Manitoba, pointing to a Dauphin school trustee who told a public meeting in 2024 that residential schools had positive impacts. Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser's office called denialism a serious and distinct issue but indicated the government prefers further parliamentary study and consultation with Indigenous peoples over the bill. University of Manitoba historian Sean Carleton cautioned that criminalization is only one tool against denialism, warning the movement's most prominent figures would use it to cast themselves as victims, and argued education should remain the priority.
  
  
• Premier Wab Kinew is urging residents of Manitoba's Parkland region to stay off all highways and municipal roads after unprecedented rainfall caused widespread flooding in communities including Dauphin and Swan River. The City of Dauphin declared a state of local emergency on July 1st after the Vermillion River breached its banks overnight, flooding streets and basements and forcing the closure of the Dauphin Regional Health Centre's emergency department. All 58 patients at the hospital were evacuated to Brandon and other facilities, and a temporary urgent care centre has been set up at the Dauphin Medical Clinic. The Town of Swan River ordered a mandatory evacuation of several streets, and provincial officials say 30 states of emergency have been declared in what they describe as a major, multi-regional flooding event spanning western and northwestern Manitoba, with 54 highway closures in place at one point. Kinew announced a $5-million advanced disaster financial assistance fund to give municipalities immediate cash flow for their response. Officials say they are monitoring for further road and bridge failures and are prepared to support additional evacuations over the coming days.
  
  
• Former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Wally Daudrich has quit the Manitoba PC Party, telling party leadership in a letter that the party has completely abandoned traditional conservatives like him. Daudrich, who narrowly lost last year's leadership race to Obby Khan, was barred last month from seeking the party's nomination in Turtle Mountain despite saying he outsold his lone rival in memberships by about four to one, and his appeal of the disqualification was unsuccessful. He says the Tories have turned away from conservative ideals over the last year and have effectively become the "de facto Liberal Party for Manitoba", criticizing in particular the party's choice of Alberta political strategist Stephen Carter, a self-described old-school Red Tory, as campaign director for the upcoming election. The party responded that membership is voluntary and that leaving is Daudrich's prerogative.

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