The Minister of Finance is a senior Cabinet position in the British parliamentary system, which forms the basis of political activity in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Manitoba's Finance Ministers were known as Provincial Treasurers before 1969.
The Finance Minister is responsible for managing the province's fiscal resources, overseeing taxation policies, and allocating funds to other governmental departments. Every year, the minister submits a budget to the legislature (outlining anticipated expenditures and revenues for the next twelve months) and a completed financial report for the annual cycle just completed.
It is the oldest cabinet portfolio in the province, predating the office of Premier by four years. The first Manitoba Provincial Secretary was Marc-Amable Girard, who was appointed to the position on September 16, 1870 by Lieutenant-GovernorAdams George Archibald, shortly after his arrival in the province. Until January 1871, Girard and Provincial SecretaryAlfred Boyd were the only members of Archibald's ministry.
Prior to 1977, it was not considered unusual for Manitoba's provincial Premiers to concurrently hold the office of Provincial Treasurer or Finance Minister. In the twentieth century, John Bracken, Stuart Garson, Douglas L. Campbell, Dufferin Roblin and Edward Schreyer all served as their own Treasurers or Finance Ministers for some period of time (Roblin, in fact, was his own Treasurer for eight years). Today, such a combination of responsibilities is far less likely.
Since the introduction of partisan politics in 1888, all Manitoba Finance Ministers have belonged to the governing party in the province. Every Finance Minister to hold office during the coalition government which lasted from 1940 to 1950 was from the Liberal-Progressive Party, the largest in the legislature.
In early 2005, Selinger indicated that his province would switch to a system known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, which is already in use in most other provinces. This followed a request from provincial Auditor General Jon Singleton, who criticized the way in which Selinger's government tabulated its expenditures. (Singleton claimed that the province's $13 million surplus for 2004 wouild actually be a $604 million dollar deficit if crown corporations losses and other off-budget spending was included.)
According to CUPE Manitoba President, Paul Moist, who presented a Brief today to the Minister of Finance, "adequate funding for social services should be a center piece of a provincial economic strategy."
To adequately fund Manitobas public services is a wise component of Manitobas investment strategy." With appropriate levels of government funding, he said union members could contribute their part in the growth and development of Manitobas quality of life.
In Manitoba, CUPE represents 24,000 members working in public and private health care facilities, school divisions, municipal services, social services, child care centres, public utilities, libraries and family emergency services.
Manitoba's Public Accounts Committee is responsible for examining the public accounts of the province and for scrutinizing the provincial auditor's annual report.
The practice was beneficial to the auditor and to the Minister of Finance, as it allowed them and their staff to prepare answers for questions that were often quite detailed.
Since the Minister of Finance is mainly responsible for the financing of most of the various departments and, in fact, Crown corporations, I think it's only natural for him to sit on this committee and to be there to answer questions.
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