April 23, 2020

Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg, MB—Adrien Sala, MLA for St. James, called on the Pallister government and their Crowns Minister to immediately come clean with Manitobans about his plans for cuts at Crown Corporations like Manitoba Hydro and MPI.

“The Pallister Conservatives are demanding up to 30% cuts at our Crown Corporations and we know they received the plans for job cuts on Tuesday - it’s time the Government come clean with Manitobans about how many people will lose their jobs or see their salary cut”, said Sala. “We know it’s wrong to cut jobs at our Crowns during this crisis and are calling on the Pallister Government to back off their plans for cuts and layoffs during the pandemic”.

In May of 2019 Manitoba Hydro stated regarding the prospect of further job cuts: “We believe that further staff reductions would significantly increase the risk of public and employee safety, of system reliability, and as well as our ability to provide reasonable levels of service to our customers”.

The Government laid off more than 1300 workers at Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries earlier this week causing hardship for thousands of families. The Official Opposition has demanded a recall of the Legislature in a safe and responsible manner so the Government can be held to account for its plans for layoffs and cuts.