2008 Brief to Cabinet Influenced by Economic Crisis

On December 3, the Manitoba Federation of Labour presented its Annual Brief to the Manitoba government cabinet. Not surprisingly in the current world economic crisis, the first items touched on in the brief related to economic challenges in Manitoba. Points raised included the need for the federal and provincial governments to maintain current public programs, services and employment. It said immediate priority should be given to public infrastructure and affordable housing projects which would offset the growing construction slowdown and could be rapidly implemented. Control of public infrastructure must remain within the public sector.

Some of the issues covered in the brief require the co-operation of and action by the federal government, but one measure the provincial government can take is to increase the minimum wage from its current level of $8.50 per hour to $12 per hour. The government of Manitoba has an enviable record for increasing the minimum wage on a regular basis, eight times since 1999. But we believe that a substantial increase now is necessary to ensure that Manitoba’s lowest income earners are not overwhelmed by the fiscal challenges that are sure to be part of the unfolding economic crisis. Clearly, the only way that minimum and near minimum wage earners get a raise is through government action. As well, increasing the minimum wage will exert pressure on the employers of near-minimum wage earners to follow through with similar increases.

The brief also looked at the Issue of P3's - Public Private Partnerships. It's a concept Winnipeg and other municipalities are thinking of implementing. The MFL believes that the most important issue in relation to P3's is control. Under the classic P3 model, citizens have no decision making powers or control (through their democratically elected government), they have no access to information about the project or service, because, after all, it’s a privately owned company and it’s 'none of your business'. This is no way to deliver public services at any level.

Many more points are covered in the MFL's 2008 Annual Brief to cabinet. If you'd like to know them all, the full brief is available for download in PDF format.