Manitoba Minute: Portrait Unveiling, Education Appointment, and Federal Agriculture Funding

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

This Week In Manitoba:

• Manitoba is considering replacing its old purple paper health cards with new plastic ones. Premier Wab Kinew took to Instagram to present three draft designs featuring a bison, polar bear, and northern lights, inviting feedback through comments. Funding for these plastic health cards was included in the 2024 provincial budget. The winning design will be announced soon.
  
  
• Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative opposition claims the NDP government has significantly reduced capital spending based on a report from credit rating agency S+P Global. The report, tabled in May, indicated a 40 per cent cut to the capital program, which would amount to over $1 billion. Interim PC leader Wayne Ewasko argued this proves the NDP is making cuts to fund its spending agenda. However, Finance Minister Adrien Sala denied the claim, stating that the government has only "right-sized" spending by cancelling unplanned projects announced by the previous PC government.
  
  
• The University of Manitoba is set to receive $7.6 million in federal funding over four years to develop net-zero farming systems as part of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative. Led by researcher Martin Entz, the project, named LEAP (Leveraging Ecosystems to Transform Agriculture on the Prairies), will explore ways to enhance agricultural sustainability while maintaining farm productivity. Entz’s team will collaborate with various stakeholders, including First Nations and conservation groups, to address gaps in current farming practices and use advanced modeling software to test and scale effective strategies.

Last Week In Manitoba:

• The Manitoba government has appointed Bobbi Taillefer, an education union executive and former Winnipeg school principal, as the Province's independent education commissioner to oversee a new disciplinary process for teachers. This role, created through 2023 amendments to the Education Administration Act, allows Taillefer to investigate complaints of teacher misconduct and incompetence and take disciplinary action, including revoking teaching certificates. A public registry for teacher discipline records will launch next year. Taillefer's appointment has raised concerns about impartiality.
  
  
• Former Premier Greg Selinger was in attendance as his portrait was unveiled at the Legislature, marking a rare public appearance since he left politics in 2018. The portrait depicts Selinger on his front porch, holding a quilt made by his wife. Selinger, who served as Finance Minister before becoming Premier in 2009, focused on social programs and poverty reduction during his tenure. His leadership faced challenges, including a fiscal crunch and an unpopular sales tax increase, leading to the NDP's defeat in 2016.
  
  
• The Manitoba-based carpooling app, GoManitoba, a project of the Green Action Centre, has been relaunched with a redesigned interface. Originally launched in 2017, the app's usage declined during the pandemic but the Province is hoping taxpayer funding will see it revitalized. The app currently only has around 1,500 users and the number of active users was not disclosed. The amount of taxpayer funding spent on the app was also not disclosed, but the Green Action Centre did receive a $230,000 government grant in April. No wonder taxes are so high!