Portage la Prairie MLA Jeff Bereza offers a pointed assessment of the NDP government's performance during the first legislative session of 2025, highlighting policy reversals, significant tax concerns, and a perceived lack of new initiatives.
"Same bill, but with less teeth"
Speaking after the session's conclusion, the Progressive Conservative MLA pointed to specific bills and financial revelations as evidence of what he views as reactive governance.
Bereza sharply criticized the NDP's approach to interprovincial trade, specifically referencing their Bill 47. He contends the governing party defeated a stronger PC proposal (Bill 227) only to introduce a weaker version themselves weeks later.
"You know, the NDP didn't really seem to bring anything new. They brought a lot of things that we had talked about." he notes, "Their Bill 47, we had actually introduced basically the same bill, only with more teeth in it that would have made it even more attractive to Manitobans as well as people buying from Manitobans. We had done that - I think it was in March or April - the NDP defeated it, and then they basically brought the same bill but with less teeth, only a couple of weeks before the session ended, so it was like a real rush to get things done."
He adds that it was "unfortunate they couldn't have just passed our bill at the time."
Surplus revelation and property tax fallout
A significant point of contention for Bereza revolves around government finances and property taxes. He directly challenged the NDP's narrative regarding the province's starting financial position, citing a disclosure during Public Accounts Committee meetings he attended.
"The NDP always said after the election that we had left them in a position of a heavy deficit. Yet this session, we had what's called the Public Accounts Committee, which I sat in on a couple of times. It was disclosed at that time that the conservative, the PC team actually left the NDP with a $373 million surplus, and that what came from the auditors' report."
(Source: Manitoba Public Accounts confirming a $373 million summary surplus for the 2022-23 fiscal year).
Bereza expressed deep concern about the impact of the NDP's changes to the education property tax credit, particularly the shift to a flat $1,500 credit applicable only to primary residences. He reported significant backlash from Winnipeg property owners facing combined tax increases from higher assessments and the policy change.
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"We're getting all kinds of people out of Winnipeg that are calling us and reporting increases in their taxes because of the education tax and the tax assessment going up by 10/15/20 percent." he says, empathizing with the tough choices that families are having to make, "It's unbelievable what these people are being hit with. Parents have to decide, am I gonna put my kid in hockey this year or am I going to pay my taxes,"
He finishes the point by adding, "it wasn't conveyed very well."
Bereza then goes on to say, "The city of Winnipeg has come and said that people have to declare which is their permanent residency and in a lot of cases, the people that have been calling us, they didn't even get the $1500 tax credit. So it's really hitting them, and I think we are going to see some real issues coming out in rural Manitoba as well too."
He further highlights the impact on vulnerable residents, mentioning his work with Oak Tree Towers in Portage la Prairie: "The people that are on fixed incomes are the ones that are really going to be affected by these tax increases and it's not fair to them."
Calls for action on bail and markets
Bereza also noted a lack of progress on bail reform, expressing frustration with the provincial government's approach.
"Some of the other things that I didn't see in the session was any movement on bail reform. The Minister of Justice talked about how he was working with Ottawa to try and do things better with bail reform. But we can do it right here in Manitoba. I'm not sure why we're not working towards that instead of continuing to bounce the baseball back and forth, blaming the federal government."
He goes on to further highlight the contrast between speech and action, "Meanwhile, we still have criminals out on the street because they don't have to worry about this."
Furthermore, Bereza criticized the government's perceived lack of proactive efforts to secure international markets for Manitoba products, especially agricultural commodities like canola facing trade challenges.
He pointed to the efforts of neighbouring provinces as a model.
"We need to be actively selling the value of our province. We need to be actively selling the value of our farmers, our manufacturing sector. [The NDP] were waiting for people to come to us, whereas Saskatchewan and Alberta, they're going out and getting those customers," he points out, and adds, "You should always be proactive instead of reactive. Whether it comes to the bills that the NDP introduced or the half baked bills that they introduced, they were all reactive, they were reactive to what we had put forward first."
Looking ahead, Bereza emphasized the PC focus on affordability and economic competitiveness. "Manitoba has so much open potential, but we can't tax our citizens to death. We have to be inviting to business, not chasing it away."
He reiterates the need for inclusive governance, saying, "We need to look at every aspect of our province because every person in Manitoba matters."