Manitoba.

• Author: Signorilli, Andrea
• Position: Legislative Reports

The Fifth Session of the 40th Legislature began on November 16, 2015 with the first Speech from the Throne delivered by Her Honour Janice C. Filmon, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor. This was also the last Speech from the Throne before the April 19, 2016 general election, and the address highlighted a range of commitments and proposals, including:

* extending the province's core infrastructure plan by three years;

* working with the federal government to lift the cap for immigrants and refugees and strengthen settlement services;

* providing stable, predictable and long-term funding to municipalities, including investments in education and infrastructure projects for the city of Brandon;

* forging new partnerships with Indigenous communities, business leaders and educators to provide more opportunities to Indigenous youth;

* creating a new trades training centre in partnership with the University College of the North to help northern students;

* investing in community-based strategies to expand the local production of healthy foods across the north;

* initiating a plan to move rail lines out of Winnipeg and supporting the city with $1 billion under a new partnership over the next five years; and

* committing to partner on future phases of rapid transit;

Brian Pallister, the Leader of the Official Opposition, moved a non-confidence amendment to the Address in Reply motion, which noted that the provincial government:

* broke promises to balance the budget by 2014 without raising taxes and failing to respect the right to vote on tax increases;

* failed to recognize Manitobans are paying more in taxes and getting less in services, since front-line services like health care and education are being ranked last in the nation;

* caused the provincial debt to double since 2008, because of self-promotion and wasteful government spending, requiring Manitobans to pay more than $800 million in debt interest charges; and

* threatens Manitoba's future, as money spent servicing the debt cannot be invested to protect essential front-line services, reduce health-care wait times or improve education results.

Mr. Pallister's amendment was defeated on November 26, 2015 by a vote of yeas 18, nays 32, while the main motion carried on a vote of yeas 32, nays 19.

The fall session saw the introduction of a number of bills, addressing various governance areas including:

Bill 3--The Post-Secondary Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policies Act, which would...