As Premier: I would eliminate rent control in Manitoba
A policy initiated by the NDP in the 1970’s, rent control continues to keep Manitoba a “have not” province. Of course, by coming out against rent control, the Dippers will paint me as a evil corporate supporter, hell bent on making life unaffordable for the working poor in Manitoba. Rather than giving the obvious economic arguments and reasons why rent control is bad for Manitoba, I will use the example of our neighbor to the west: Saskatchewan.
Perhaps the best comment I have seen on the subject comes from Harry Van Mulligen, who is an NDP cabinet minister in Saskatchewan. Unlike Today’s NDP, the Saskatchewan NDP government got rid of rent control.in 1992. According to an interview with Mr. Van Mulligen with the Frontier Centre of Public Policy: “We did it because it didn't seem to be working. It seemed to lock in rent increases. Under rent control, you are pretty much guaranteed your rent increase based on some inflationary figure and, of course, increase it further if you could demonstrate that you had costs over and above that to remodel or repair buildings. It didn't seem to be having the desired impact of keeping the rents down. Also, I don't think it had a positive impact in terms of people's decision to invest money in those areas because they saw it as a limited dividend potential.”
Do my ears deceive me? Why is it the NDP in Saskatchewan understand economics more than their neighbor to the east? The next logical question the Frontier Centre asked was: “Did the rents spike up when it was removed? Was there disruption in the marketplace?”
To which Mr. Van Mulligen responded: “I don't think there was any real impact. I don't think we have seen rental housing or other housing quite keep up with the growth in some of our cities and so we are seeing some increases in rental costs, especially for low-income people. The traditional approach of advocacy groups is to increase the amount of money you would be provided on social assistance to take these higher rents into account, but personally I think we need other ways to deal with that. Again, if you provide more assistance for those on welfare, you give them an advantage over working low-income people.”
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the evils of rent control. The proof is in the streets of Winnipeg where we have had only a couple of apartments built in the past several years. It also explains the high level of worn out buildings that are in dire need of repair and restoration. We wouldn’t be screaming as hard for new housing projects in the burbs such as Waverly West if we could live in safe funky condo’s downtown. Instead, the only construction cranes in town are building Doer’s tribute building for Manitoba Hydro. Winnipeg’s apartment scene downtown is similar to the old Soviet system, both in style and service. An utter disaster area. Maybe the Dippers like it that way? Reminds them of the glory years of the CCCP.
What boggles my mind is how trapped in the past Today’s NDP really are. Manitoba is falling behind Saskatchewan on a number of fronts. I have always viewed Manitoba as being superior to our neighbor. To use Simpson’s analogy, we are Springfield, they are Shelbyville. However, the fiscal policies of Saskatchewan’s NDP governments under Romanow and Calvert are closer to Gary Filmon’s PC governments than Doer’s current administration. Good for Saskatchewan, bad for Manitoba.
Why is that?
I think that in Manitoba, the NDP have stronger ties to organized labour and true social activist roots. Others would argue that the mere size of Winnipeg makes apples and oranges when comparing with Regina and Saskatoon. Thus, Saskatchewan can lower taxes, be more fiscally conservative and become a “have” province. No. Wait. That doesn’t make any sense!
I honestly can’t think of excuses why Gary Doer has not implemented the sound ideas such as scrapping rent control, which was put into action by their Saskatchewan cousins. Can anyone send me some? Can we trade Today’s NDP for Lorne Calvert’s NDP? I think like their brand of socialism better.
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The next discussion in my "As Premier I would" series will be how we can help working families in Manitoba. They sure could use some help.
Perhaps the best comment I have seen on the subject comes from Harry Van Mulligen, who is an NDP cabinet minister in Saskatchewan. Unlike Today’s NDP, the Saskatchewan NDP government got rid of rent control.in 1992. According to an interview with Mr. Van Mulligen with the Frontier Centre of Public Policy: “We did it because it didn't seem to be working. It seemed to lock in rent increases. Under rent control, you are pretty much guaranteed your rent increase based on some inflationary figure and, of course, increase it further if you could demonstrate that you had costs over and above that to remodel or repair buildings. It didn't seem to be having the desired impact of keeping the rents down. Also, I don't think it had a positive impact in terms of people's decision to invest money in those areas because they saw it as a limited dividend potential.”
Do my ears deceive me? Why is it the NDP in Saskatchewan understand economics more than their neighbor to the east? The next logical question the Frontier Centre asked was: “Did the rents spike up when it was removed? Was there disruption in the marketplace?”
To which Mr. Van Mulligen responded: “I don't think there was any real impact. I don't think we have seen rental housing or other housing quite keep up with the growth in some of our cities and so we are seeing some increases in rental costs, especially for low-income people. The traditional approach of advocacy groups is to increase the amount of money you would be provided on social assistance to take these higher rents into account, but personally I think we need other ways to deal with that. Again, if you provide more assistance for those on welfare, you give them an advantage over working low-income people.”
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the evils of rent control. The proof is in the streets of Winnipeg where we have had only a couple of apartments built in the past several years. It also explains the high level of worn out buildings that are in dire need of repair and restoration. We wouldn’t be screaming as hard for new housing projects in the burbs such as Waverly West if we could live in safe funky condo’s downtown. Instead, the only construction cranes in town are building Doer’s tribute building for Manitoba Hydro. Winnipeg’s apartment scene downtown is similar to the old Soviet system, both in style and service. An utter disaster area. Maybe the Dippers like it that way? Reminds them of the glory years of the CCCP.
What boggles my mind is how trapped in the past Today’s NDP really are. Manitoba is falling behind Saskatchewan on a number of fronts. I have always viewed Manitoba as being superior to our neighbor. To use Simpson’s analogy, we are Springfield, they are Shelbyville. However, the fiscal policies of Saskatchewan’s NDP governments under Romanow and Calvert are closer to Gary Filmon’s PC governments than Doer’s current administration. Good for Saskatchewan, bad for Manitoba.
Why is that?
I think that in Manitoba, the NDP have stronger ties to organized labour and true social activist roots. Others would argue that the mere size of Winnipeg makes apples and oranges when comparing with Regina and Saskatoon. Thus, Saskatchewan can lower taxes, be more fiscally conservative and become a “have” province. No. Wait. That doesn’t make any sense!
I honestly can’t think of excuses why Gary Doer has not implemented the sound ideas such as scrapping rent control, which was put into action by their Saskatchewan cousins. Can anyone send me some? Can we trade Today’s NDP for Lorne Calvert’s NDP? I think like their brand of socialism better.
----
The next discussion in my "As Premier I would" series will be how we can help working families in Manitoba. They sure could use some help.
posted by Andy Fletcher | 12:37 AM
5 Comments:
Geez Andy,
If you're gonna crib FCPP for you're deep thinking, at least quote their full analysis, including this little gem in the preamble:
"Manitoba’s most archaic and dysfunctional policy, rent controls were originally imposed by the NDP government of Edward Schreyer in 1976 as a temporary, inflation-control measure. In 1977, a Conservative government under Sterling Lyon defeated the NDP, and his housing minister, Gary Filmon, led the charge to remove rent controls. Rents spiked upwards, and that contributed to that government’s loss of power in the 1981 election. When the Tories returned to power under Filmon’s leadership in 1988, his government was so frightened by this history that it left the controls untouched. The present NDP government, elected in 1999, has made minor fiddles to the rent control policy, with little amelioration of its negative effects."
full article is here:
http://www.fcpp.org/pdf/FC22RentControDec05l.pdf
Nice piece of editing.
Also good to see you're back to your old rhetorical form, complete with the red baiting and thoughtful lessons drawn from the Simpsons.
Is your ghostwriter on vacation?
Interesting insight on how it would be if you were premier.
Love and kisses,
Uncle Joe
Well, Uncle Joe it seems you are not a fan, yet you continue to come back for more! I cropped the element I wanted to highlight and included the link so you could read the whole piece.
I also published your comment even though I don't agree with your criticism. If "red baiting" is a sport, I would try to compete for gold.
Did you notice the date when Lyon got rid of rent control and when the NDP put it back in? It was the highest rate of inflation in history.
However, the world has changed since then. If you think a decision based on interest rates in 1981 are still valid, that shows us what life would be like if you were premier.
Still waiting for your deep thinking response instead of inch deep mile wide insults.
Uncle Joe:
I noticed your righteous indignation pertained only to the first half of the piece.
No comments on the rest? I would argue that two neighbouring provinces with similar ideological leanings acting in a dissimilar manner is worthy of more expansive rhetoric than pithy accusations of "red baiting."
If we are not the deep thinkers that you expect us to be, how's about sharing some of your enlightenment instead of being a seagull in these forums - flying in leaving a mess - then flying away?
There's nothing stopping developers from converting old, decrepit apartment buildings into the funky condominiums you speak of. In areas around Osborne and Corydon, we're seeing a lot of that.
My un-scientific empirical evidence suggests vacancy rates are up this year in most parts of Winnipeg, putting a downward pressure on rents. If the NDP are going to scrap rent-control, now would be the time to do it.
Sounds like a good idea to me. Perhaps we could go a step further and provide incentives for these type of improvements (that's about as much corporate welfare I would be willing to accept!)
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