Manitoba.

• Author: Yarish, Rick
• Position: Report

On November 20, 2007 Lieutenant Governor John Harvard delivered the NDP government's eleventh Speech from the Throne since 1999, commencing the second session of the 39th Manitoba Legislature. The address conveyed a range of government commitments and proposals, including:

* A commitment to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions in Manitoba below 2000 levels over the next two years;

* New restrictions on household use of dishwashing detergents and lawn fertilizers to help protect lakes and rivers;

* Further capital investments for university campuses in Winnipeg and Brandon;

* An enhanced driver's licence to be offered beginning in the fall of 2008;

* Beginning the phase-out of the province's corporate capital tax and making the Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit 70 per cent refundable;

* Expansion of child-care spaces by another 2,500 over the next two years;

* New nurse training spaces to be added at Manitoba's universities and colleges;

* New training spaces to be added at the University of Manitoba school of medicine;

* Adding two new investigative teams to assist communities in tackling organized crime;

* Introducing new legislation to provide protection for witnesses who testify against gangs;

* An increase in the minimum wage based on previous public consultations;

* An increase to the child benefit to provide support to working families;

* Appointment of a new privacy commissioner with the power to issue orders under Manitoba's freedom of information and protection of privacy legislation;

* An increase in the farmland tax rebate to 70 per cent; and

* Finalize agreements to be signed for the Museum for Human Rights that will trigger the establishment of the first national museum outside Ottawa.

In his non-confidence amendment to the Address in Reply motion, Official Opposition Leader Hugh McFadyen identified a number of government shortcomings, including:

* the government's misguided directive to Manitoba Hydro to construct the BiPole III transmission line on the west side of the province, resulting in more than $500 million in additional capital costs, 40 megawatts of line loss and more than $17 million annually in lost sale revenues;

* the government's refusal to provide answers to the 34,000 Manitobans who lost over $100 million of their savings in the Crocus Investment Fund scandal;

* the government's failure to ensure that the safety of children in the care of Child and Family Services is a paramount consideration;

* the...