Manitoba touts hirings in face of lobby group criticism

Manitoba’s finance minister refused to be criticized Thursday for his government’s decision to hire hundreds of workers in positions that had remained vacant under the former Tory government.

“Whether it was creating significant delays in Manitobans accessing their health cards (or) birth certificates, those cuts had a big impact on the quality of life for Manitobans,” said Adrien Sala, who called the hirings “a good news story.”

Sala said Manitobans voted for better service when they turfed the Tories in the fall election and put the NDP in power.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation issued a news release earlier in the day calling the hirings wasteful.

Gage Haubrich, the lobby group’s prairie director, said the new government has hired 694 workers since winning the election. He pegged the annual cost of their salaries at $39.9 million.

“It comes down to what taxpayers can afford,” Haubrich said. “(Manitobans) expect to get services and not to pay for well-paid government jobs… it’s a lot of money.”

Haubrich said 109 clerks and 53 administrative assistants had been hired.

“Taxpayers can’t afford this government’s ballooning wage bill,” he said. “Premier Wab Kinew needs to halt the hiring spree and stop wasting taxpayers’ dollars on more bureaucratic salaries.”

The group said other hirings included: 48 correctional officers, at $64,000 apiece annually, 21 environmental officers, whose salary ranges from $47,000 to $63,000, 11 sheriffs, who earn about $48,000, and 61 social workers, who are paid from $47,000 to $70,000 a year.

A provincial spokesman confirmed “the majority of these positions that have been filled are existing positions that were previously vacant, not newly created positions.

“These hirings enable departments to accomplish mandates and fulfil operational requirements.”

Sala said there’s a cost to keeping positions vacant.

“We lost out on 2,000 potential new immigrants because the last government, and their cuts, resulted in that nominee program not being properly staffed. We didn’t have enough snowplow operators to keep our highways clean and safe for driving.

“This is a sign that we’re doing the important work of staffing up, in important areas, to make sure that ultimately we can give Manitobans the help and support that they need and deserve.”

Obby Khan, the Tory’s finance critic, claimed the NDP is cutting programs.

“They’ve cut daycares, they’ve cut the green team, they’ve cut parks, they’ve made cuts to justice,” Khan said. “Forty million dollars to those vacancies, when Manitobans are still waiting, to me sounds like this NDP is like they’ve always been: spend, spend, spend and worry about that later.”

Kyle Ross, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, criticized the taxpayers federation for tossing out numbers on how many government workers were hired without putting it into context.

“We don’t know if they are right or wrong, but this is frustrating to see when Manitobans voted for more services at the last election,” Ross said.

“Clerks provide a service at the front lines… hopefully, this is a good sign for increased services.”

Ross pointed out the former Tory government reduced the civil service by 2,300 workers between 2016 and 2023.

“When Manitobans complained about the lack of services, this is why,” he said. “I think Manitobans will be appreciative of all the people hired.”

Niall Harney, a senior researcher with the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said its research found that by 2023, 27 per cent of civil servant positions had been left vacant by the government and, between 2016 to 2020, 17 per cent of the positions were cut.

“We were at a large deficit with the civil service to deliver services,” Harney said. “This is just backfilling existing positions.

“If anything, this is something we should be welcoming.”

[email protected]