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What are talking about?????

We all knew he wasn't running again in 2023 (he told us that in 2019), but it sounds like they're picking a new leader asap. It's unclear if he's even staying on as a minister.

He is stepping down. Announced today

Premier Brian Pallister, in Brandon today, says he will not seek re-election.

Says the time is now for a new leader.

&mdash: Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) August 10, 2021

Thank you Premier Pallister for your service to Manitoba!  
Despite covid and all the issues it brought to us you've done a great job! Especially leading the Conservative party to two majority wins!

He didn't provide a single day's worth of good leadership. What service are you thankful for?

Don't let the MB door smack you on the arse on the way out!

I’m also wondering what service they are thankful for...  
 
I can’t think of a single good thing he did. Not one.

I'm pretty sure the man knew that his days were numbered the moment he had to start treating grown adults of this province like rebellious teenagers. Nonetheless, good riddance.  
 
I can't wait to see what else the Conservative Party has in store for us.

He treated money like it actually came from somewhere (us). He lowered the PST, he has lowered the school tax on property (with more reductions coming) and his government has had autopac send us a number of rebates over the pandemic.  
You will never make everybody happy in a job like that, but after decades of watching the NDP spend like it was a party, and deficits that showed no responsibility, it was refreshing to have a grownup in the job.  
If the NDP ever want to regain power, maybe they had better do a little research next time they pick a leader. Their current pick seems to come with a LOT of baggage. I do not think he is electable.

Brian Pallister got voted with the biggest majority in Manitoba’s history 2016 and a majority second time around so there must’ve been a reason why the majority of people voted that way.  
He took us through a pandemic - and yes every other party thinks they could have done things better but the opposition always says that until they get put in a similar situation.  
So many people want a change but as the old saying goes “be careful for what we wish for “  
What and who are our options at this time - IMO I really don’t see any strong leaders in all the parties.  
Maybe all the parties need a shake up in leaders before the next provincial election?  
 
As for Premier Pallister he’s 67 now so no big surprise he’s not running again but moving on to retirement .  
 
And “No” my vote at this time if there was an election is “very undecided “

Gutting health care and education is *never* a good thing. Those are the actions of a premier who does not have your best interests at heart.  
I want a leader who values education. I want a leader who doesn’t cut health care services.  
 
 
Sending “rebates” to people is nothing more than vote pandering.

I don't know maybe after reading all the crappy comments online about Pallister over the past year with Covid I am tired of people running him into the mud. Comments from negative nellies who cannot seem to see past their own ego. I suggest they go look in a mirror, if they have the courage to do so, and acknowledge their own faults. No one is perfect but we all do the best we can including Brian Pallister.  
 
I appreciate that Brian gave these years of his life to trying to make Manitoba a better place for us all. The position of Premier is a tough job and he did his best to lead us through this pandemic something no other Premier of Manitoba has had to deal with. I wish him well and look forward to the next leader of the Manitoba Conservative Party.

During this Pandemic I have always thought that all the politicians running the show will never win. Whoever they are. This is not directed at Manitoba but any politician anywhere in the world.

I remember a day under the previous government that the Provence was so far in debt that we were almost bankrupt, and there was no end in sight for the outrages spending. I'm not talking about making Manitoba great again spending but making the fat cat, fatter spending. When Premier Pallister took over, HE HAD TO MAKE CUTS. Trimming the fat from health care and education was one step that he had to take. Rather than get on board for a few years of hardship to bring Manitoba back to a sustainable debt level the self serving egotistical fat cat unions took him on.  
 
Somewhere down the line Premier Pallister must have stopped the media fat cats from getting fatter because they have yet to write one good word about him in the last 5 years. Premier Pallister could say good morning and the media would find something negative about that.  
 
So be careful of what you wish for. Bring the NDP back into power with a untested political leader with no agenda, and watch us go down the crapper again.

Pallister has done a phenomenal job with the dumpster fire he was left.  
 
The SpeNDP dug such a hole in medicine, education and many other departments that it is still going to be years to dig out, even with the Conservatives fiscal prudence.  
 
And people who don't think Wab has an agenda - watch out.

I want a leader who thinks long term not the next election cycle, health care and education are a good thing, but if they end up bankrupting us with unchecked spending, what happens to our education and health care then ?

I'm legit curious - what "fat" got trimmed? That suggests unnecessary things get cut, but it seems like lots of very necessary things got cut in the process.

As we bid farewell to Brian Pallister and breathe a sigh of relief, let us not all forget that it was not Pallister alone who turned against heathcare workers and teachers, but the entire party behind him who supported his actions.  
 
The Conservative Party has rarely had the best interests of the average person in mind, not to mention the horrid response to everything involving the residential schools. The late enactment of any reasonable Covid restrictions lead to how many preventable deaths, especially considering the province had to send patients to other provinces to seek care.  
 
Now tell me, does the difference between 7% and 8% PST weigh enough to counteract all this pain?

1% saving on pst can be a lot during a year to a single parent family, a senior on a fixed retirement income or to a small family business especially as inflation rises bringing inevitable interest rate increases .  
Fiscal responsibility from government is a perfectly reasonable expectation and striving towards a balanced budget is difficult but vital. We all want important services but they must be delivered in a cost effective and efficient manner. The public purse is not bottomless.  
Covid 19 has thrown an awful curve ball into all of our lives. The financial cost of covid is going to haunt us all for generations to come. Now is not the time for further uncontrolled spending. We are all going to have to pull in our belts and roll up our sleeves and we need government and services to do the same while being financially prudent.  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2021-08-12 00:52:07

You wouldn't be so quick to compliment if you knew what they pay for hydro in Ontario. Not a moment too soon I say! I only wish I had known he was in town so I could tell him personally what a stellar leader he has been.

I would argue the opposite - that the PST reduction primarily benefitted higher income households and not those who needed a break - the households you describe.  
 
The vast majority of essential items are already PST exempt. Basic items like food, diapers, pres:cription medications and children's clothing are already exempt. Big-ticket items and virtually all luxury goods are not.

Hydro is expensive here as well. That's why the PCs set the rate for three years. People don't read the news enough but Hydro itself was asking for a 3.5% increase this fall. But the PCs fixed the rate at 2.5% for three years. Where is the problem?  
Our natural gas adjusts the rates constantly, sometimes it decrease but lately with the Federal carbon tax gas is costing more.

Although many items are exempt I still pay lots of pst on essential goods and services for our small business and what really annoys me is that chargeable goods can vary depending on where we buy them. It’s a huge burden on us every year and I was glad to see reductions in pst and education taxes, it makes a real difference.

for those of us living in poverty we need all the money we can get from such measures as reduction in the PST.  
The NDP like to spout that the 1% reduction only benefits big ticket items but if someone can actually afford to spend money on big ticket items good for them.  
The rest of us are scrambling to pay our bills and put decent food on our tables so ANY money given back to us from the PCs helps!  
I shudder to see If the NDP get in again, then we'll see the real financial hardship coming.  
I absolutely loved the fact that the PCs scuttled the school board's annual robbing of tax payers!

Hydro is not expensive here. I used to work a job where I saw people's utility bills from across the country, and Manitoba consistently is among the lowest, if not the lowest.  
 
Does it go up? Sure, everything does. But I'm pretty sure the cost increase is approved by the PUB, which is supposed to be independent of the government of the day. So I'm not sure yoi can give the PC credit for only "allowing" it to increase 2.5%.

"Manitoba has the third-highest spending per student in Canada at $14,815, after Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, yet Manitoba students often score well below their counterparts across the country in national assessments,"  
 
 
No problems here lets just throw more money at it with no results instead of bringing the system back to reality.

I don't doubt that some people will save a relatively small amount of money from a PST reduction, but I was pointing out that it had minimal impact on the groups you specifically cited as "benefitting", specifically single parents (assuming you're insinuating low-income) and fixed-income seniors. Those groups benefitted the least.  
 
Edit to add: Also, how much savings really? If you have 100k of expenses and 50k of that is exempt, you're saving only about $500 on those 100k expenses. That doesn't seem like a make-or-break amount of savings over that amount of expenditures.  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2021-08-12 09:29:47

I don't think anyone is advocating throwing "more money" at it, but can you provide an example where squeezing money OUT of the system will improve results? Because that's essentially what's being proposed.