'We're going in the right direction': Pallister speaks at PC AGM

David Bowie's Changesplayed through the loudspeaker at the Progressive Conservative's annual general meeting in Winnipeg as the party's leader and Manitoba's premier Brian Pallister stepped in front of the mic to address the party's faithful Friday night.

Pallister referenced the songmore than once during a 20-minute speech, in which he spent equal time talking up the accomplishments of his government since taking office in 2016 and blaming the previous NDP government for the challenges it still faces.

"David Bowie wrote a song and it's really important for us to remember right now, and you can sing it with me if you want," said Pallister before breaking into the chorus of 'Changes' and making specific reference to the lyric 'turn and face the strain'. "Because you have to turn and face the strain you cannot go around change you go right at it, you go through it.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister singing David Bowie's "Changes"

7 years ago

Duration 0:26

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister singing David Bowie's "Changes"

"(NDPleader) WabKinew says we should go slow, we should wait... we're waiting for health care, we're waiting for places for kids in daycare, we're waiting to get kids out of motels and take care of them. We're all tired of waiting and change means we address these problems."

In the campaign-style speech,Pallister said the future of Manitoba's economic growth depends on the success of the province's small and medium-sized private businesses.He pointed to his government's decision to join the New West Partnership as an example of the PC's push to open up trade between provinces and help those businessowners.

He also applauded his government's moves to reduce "job-killing" regulations, and their pushback against the federal government's changes to health care transfers.

"We're going in the right direction," he said. "After a decade of decline, we will rebuild the economy of Manitoba."

But he acknowledged the government faces challenges,and while he said the vast majority of those challenges were left behind by the previous government,he did get a laugh from the crowd by bringing up "storm clouds" coming over the border from the United States.

"We've got some things conspiring to make life very, very challenging for our government and more importantly, for the people of this province, this country, and potentially this world," he said. "We have a president of the United States that, well, likes to tweet I'll just stop there."

Among the challenges Pallister said his government will face include trying to slay the province's deficit which the party pegs at $1 billion while interest ratesclimb.

On the state of Manitoba's health-care system,Pallister said his government inherited a province with the longest wait times in the country for knee, hip, and cataract surgeries, as well as the longest wait times for emergency room visits in Canada.

He said recent numbers show emergency room wait times dropped 28 per cent in the last year.

Pallister said the party will have to work together to protect the things important to Manitobans during the challenging times ahead, including child care, education, health care, and social services for vulnerable people.

"We have to correct the course we are correcting the course but it takes a team," he said. "And we have a tremendous team."

The PCs' two-day AGM wraps up late Saturday afternoon following an election to choose the party's next board of directors.