Manitoba Minute: Issue 120

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

📅 This Week In Manitoba: 📅

• Premier Wab Kinew has repeatedly declined to say what he thinks of a proposed oil pipeline that would cross the width of southern Manitoba, a day after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled its route. The two premiers displayed a map in Calgary on Monday of the Northern Shield pipeline, a proposed 3,300-kilometer link between refineries in Hardisty, Alberta and Sarnia, Ontario. Kinew has not signed on to the project, saying he prefers to consult Indigenous nations from the start of any major infrastructure or resource project rather than after decisions are made, and he has instead promoted a separate natural gas pipeline to the Port of Churchill. Asked repeatedly about the Smith-Ford proposal on Tuesday, he declined to address it and spoke instead about Alberta's planned sovereignty referendum. Both the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Southern Chiefs' Organization said governments must carry out the duty to consult and accommodate First Nations before embarking on any major project, noting no consultations have taken place on either pipeline. Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan criticized Kinew for shying away from the oil pipeline, arguing the Premier is instead seeking billions in federal transfers rather than joining the initiative.
  
  
• The Manitoba government has allocated $1 million a year for its US trade office in Washington, DC, which is $200,000 more than it had previously disclosed, according to documents obtained by CBC News. The NDP government had repeatedly cited $800,000 as the total annual budget for the office, the figure given to reporters in June 2025 when former broadcaster Richard Madan was named the province's trade envoy. A signed contract shows Madan receives $482,000 in annual consulting fees and is eligible for up to $51,000 in expenses, while the province spends a further $143,000 on an administrative assistant and $221,000 on rent at the Canadian embassy. There is no single line item in the budget disclosing the office's cost, which the government says falls within a $27.6-million allocation for grant assistance, and it has refused repeated freedom of information requests for spending records, citing cabinet confidence and potential harm to relations with Ottawa. Kinew's communications director described the $1-million figure as a contingency for unanticipated costs. Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said Manitobans should be concerned by the piecemeal disclosure, and Democracy Watch's Duff Conacher called the government's approach a dangerously undemocratic level of secrecy.
  
  
• The former head of Manitoba Shared Health earned nearly $1 million last year and her counterpart at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority made more than $725,000, despite each working only one month, according to mandated public sector compensation disclosures. Lanette Siragusa, replaced as chief executive of the provincial health authority early last year, earned $988,520.93 in 2025, while Mike Nader, replaced as head of the Winnipeg authority, earned $726,339.83, both up sharply from about $384,000 the year before. The provincial government said in a statement it was required to operate within the confines of an employment contract signed in 2022 under the former Progressive Conservative government, and Shared Health said the totals included legislative and contractual payments such as vacation and severance. Sean MacDonald, a business instructor at the University of Manitoba, said the payments were almost certainly buyouts of the CEOs' contracts, and warned the practice is becoming a costly trend as new governments replace executives to align organizations with their own objectives. He argued executives now negotiate long-term contracts because they expect to lose their positions when governments change, which drives up the eventual buyouts. MacDonald said contracts with clearer performance measures would let governments dismiss executives with cause and avoid the payouts.
  
  
• Residents of East St. Paul are questioning the rural municipality's decision not to publish the names of candidates seeking election this fall until late September, roughly a month before the October 28th vote. Brian Wachko, who registered to run for council last week, said he will not learn who he is running against until weeks before election night, and argued residents have a right to know, especially when people claiming to be candidates show up at their doors. The municipality said it is running the election in accordance with provincial law and called for clearer, consistent guidance from the province so municipalities do not interpret the legislation differently. Glen Simard, Manitoba's minister of municipal and northern relations, said the law does not require candidate names to be made public before nominations close, but that his advice has consistently been that releasing the information early is a best practice supporting openness and public trust. Christopher Adams, a political science professor at the University of Manitoba, said a similar move in Winnipeg would draw a huge outcry, noting candidates need to know who else is in the race to decide whether to run. The municipality declined an interview when asked why it would not reveal candidate names sooner.
  
  
• More than 50 Manitoba municipalities and First Nations had declared local states of emergency because of flooding and storms as of Tuesday, the provincial government says, including 45 local authorities and six First Nations. The cities of Brandon and Dauphin are among those under a declaration, along with Pine Creek First Nation and Sioux Valley Dakota Nation. In the Parkland region, the Municipality of Roblin still has about 70 road closures and has placed a nearly $700,000 order for more than 100 culvert pipes, which its head of council estimates is only about half of what will be needed. The Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman has identified 80 areas needing repairs after 200 millimetres of rain last week reversed progress on earlier fixes, including a washout of Highway 10 that is not expected to reopen for another four to six weeks. The Association of Manitoba Municipalities has stepped in to coordinate a bulk culvert purchase for the region rather than have each community source pipes on its own, and its president says governments will need to have more conversations about climate change adaptation and better emergency communications after some communities lost cell reception during the flooding.

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