The Kinew government has run Manitoba Public Insurance’s Tory-appointed board off the road, replacing all but one of its directors in an effort to get the Crown corporation’s 1,700 employees — on strike since August — back to work.
“Under the previous government, constant labour disruptions have made life more difficult for Manitobans,” Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said late Friday afternoon in his first news conference since being sworn in Wednesday.
“These disruptions negatively affected the services Manitobans depend on and forced workers to try and make ends meet on strike pay. It’s time for a change.”
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Justice Minister Matt Wiebe, minister responsible for MPI, with Marnie Kacher, interim CEO of MPI.
Wiebe, who is minister responsible for MPI, appointed Canadian Association of Retired Persons (Winnipeg chapter) president Carmen Nedohin as the new board chair.
“Her top priority will be resolving the current strike at MPI quickly and positively,” he said.
Nedohin is a former chair of the Manitoba Liquor Control Board and former Manitoba Hydro board member. She replaces Tory-appointed chair Ward Keith, who joined the board in May 2023 and has been the face of MPI during the eight-week strikes.
Keith and other departing board members were told about the changes earlier in the day, Wiebe said. He was to announce the “new direction” for MPI at a morning press conference, but it was postponed just minutes before its scheduled start time.
The new directors include: Gina MacKay, Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba president; Luke Johnston, Manitoba Blue Cross vice-president and former MPI executive; Candy Wong, Civil Service Superannuation Board of Manitoba portfolio manager; Fran Frederickson, a former school trustee, insurance broker and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries board member; Christian Dandeneau, CEO of ID Fusion; and Marilyn McLaren, former MPI president and CEO.
The only Progressive Conservative appointee left standing was Diane Roussin, a community leader and member of Skownan First Nation.
NDP MLA-elect JD Devgan (McPhillips) will also sit on the board.
“(New MPI board chair Carmen Nedohin’s) top priority will be resolving the current strike at MPI quickly and positively.”–Justice Minister Matt Wiebe
Wiebe said he issued a letter instructing the board and MPI to immediately rescind its final offer to the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union and any previous bargaining mandates.
The board must also work with the union on new bargaining dates and enter “negotiations immediately in good faith, with the goal to end the strike as soon as possible.”
Wiebe would not speculate on when that might be.
His letter did not include direction on wages, but Wiebe assured ratepayers the board understands the government’s desire to be “very protective of the public purse.”
“What we’re asking the board to do is refocus on this strike to resolve it, but we’re leaving that to them to do this hard work, and to take the steps necessary to negotiate in good faith, and to come to a positive outcome to get people back to work,” the Concordia MLA said.
Meantime, cheers, hugs and sighs of relief broke out at the Victoria Inn, where the MGEU was holding a convention Friday.
“The former government stubbornly restricted MPI’s ability to negotiate fair wages… bringing in new leadership at the MPI board of directors is a critical first step to negotiating a fair deal and ending the strike.”–MGEU president Kyle Ross
President Kyle Ross spoke to reporters in the lobby after Wiebe’s announcement, calling the shakeup a “light at the end of the tunnel.”
“The former government stubbornly restricted MPI’s ability to negotiate fair wages… bringing in new leadership at the MPI board of directors is a critical first step to negotiating a fair deal and ending the strike,” he said.
Bargaining dates aren’t set, but could begin immediately, he said.
“I can say we’re hopeful, but there’s still work to do,” he said.
MPI’s interim CEO Marnie Kacher said her team looks forward to working with Wiebe, the NDP government and new board “respecting the direction received today.”
“(MPI) recognizes the challenge and service disruptions experienced because of the ongoing labour interruption,” Kacher said. She thanked MPI’s customers and partners for their patience and extended “heartfelt thoughts” to staff.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS “It’s time to close the book on the PCs’ strike and get back to work for the people of Manitoba,” Wiebe said.
The labour dispute could delay MPI’s technology modernization initiative, Project Nova, she added, as employees contributing to the initiative are on the picket line.
“When those individuals return to the office, we’ll be focusing on our service resumption,” she said. “We’ll require many of those people to be helping us address the backlogs, and so their availability to participate in Project Nova will likely be delayed.”
Nova is expected to cost $290 million — up from an initial budget of $100 million and a three-year completion timeline in 2019 — and is now set to be finished in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Cost overruns and delays have been blamed on incomplete advice from consultants hired to prepare the initial business case and changes to successfully roll out the program.
MPI will present its next steps to address the strike impacts on Nova to the board and government, Kacher said. Wiebe had not been briefed on the program as of Friday.
For its part, the PCs offered little criticism. Steinbach MLA-elect Kelvin Goertzen thanked the departing board members and Keith for being a “valued and respected voice and advocate for MPI and its customers.”
“MPI is currently in a strong financial position and Manitobans will be watching to ensure that continues under the NDP government,” Goertzen said in a statement.
It’s not the first time an NDP government in Manitoba has picked a public-sector union leader to sit on the board of a Crown corporation.
Paul Moist was CUPE Manitoba president while on MPI’s board 20 years ago. Kevin Rebeck, Manitoba Federation of Labour president, was on MLL’s board in 2012.
“This is how this province operates,” said Malcolm Bird, a University of Winnipeg political science professor who studies Manitoba Crown corporations.
“The boards are partisan, politicized and each government doesn’t trust the other with the previous members.”
However, it is not the standard practice of other provinces, or the federal government, to overhaul Crown corporation boards when there is a change in government, he noted.
“When people sit on a board you’re supposed to have a fiduciary responsibility to the organization itself, and think about the long-term holistic needs of the institution itself, rather than be a person coming with an agenda,” Bird said.
It’s no surprise nearly all of MPI’s directors were turfed after the NDP formed government and the strike continued, with the board apparently refusing to budge on its offer, he said.
“Part of a role of a board is to have some political sensitivity,” he said.
— with files from Carol Sanders, Kevin Rollason and Malak Abas
MPI mandate letter
