10) MANITOBA NDP BUDGET DISAPPOINTS

(The following article is from the May 16-31, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Manitoba Bureau

More tax breaks for manufacturing corporations, an end to the tuition freeze, no increase in social assistance rates, more police positions. These are some of the highlights in another Manitoba NDP budget that received only the mildest criticisms from the opposition parties, business groups and the corporate media.

     In a country where inequality is growing rapidly despite localized resource "booms" such as Alberta's tar sands, Manitoba remains a low-wage province. First Nations signed treaties with the Crown to share the land and resources, but the federal government gave control of natural resources to the provinces in the 1930s. Corporations have taken advantage of this Balkanization, which benefits only a handful of provinces.

     The massive number of unemployed Aboriginal people in Manitoba also acts as a giant anchor, weighing down the wages of all workers. Until the provincial budget addresses these concerns, there will be no real change.