Premier Selinger's first throne speech Nov. 30 as legislative assembly begins

Posted By Sun Media

Posted 2 months ago

WINNIPEG — Greg Selinger's first throne speech as Manitoba premier will take place Nov. 30.

Selinger's government announced yesterday that the next sitting of the legislative assembly will run from Nov. 30 to Dec. 10, before breaking until the spring.

It will be the first chance for Selinger to publicly outline his plans as premier. Those plans, at least for the next year, will come in the form of the throne speech, which will be read by Lt.-Gov. Philip Lee on the first day of session. It will be the first throne speech for Lee, who took over for outgoing Lt.-Gov. John Harvard in August.

The session will also be the first chance for opposition members to grill a re-shuffled cabinet during question period. Although not a single member of Gary Doer's former cabinet was dropped when Selinger chose his team of ministers, many of the players have moved to new positions.

In a statement released yesterday, new government house leader Bill Blaikie said the throne speech will "outline the government's continued efforts to help the province weather the global financial downturn."

The release also stated that the government intends to introduce new bills during the upcoming session.

Opposition Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen said he's unimpressed that Selinger took this long to call a session that will last less than two weeks.

"He's cut it to the absolute minimum number of days and he's running the risk that the throne speech won't pass by the 10th," McFadyen said. "We've been waiting now for a few weeks."

McFadyen said his Tories plan to question the government about crime, Manitoba Hydro and 1999 election financing issues during the coming session.