Tuesday's Throne Speech set the course for the Progressive Conservative Government in Manitoba after being in power for two and a half years. Premier Brian Pallister says there are already differences rural Manitobans can see in how they're moving ahead.

"There are differences already in value-added agricultural jobs being created," says Pallister. "With our red tape initiative, we have been told by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses that we're leading the way in North America on getting the unnecessary red tape out of the way. That's, of course, saving small businesses money. And it's making sure they're creating more jobs and leaving them more money in invested into projects."

He notes there's also progress in issues surrounding first nations residents.

"As you know, we lead the country in the indigenous population as a percentage of our population. And working with the first nations on things like the treaty land entitlement settlements, because those have been sitting there for years under the previous government not getting addressed, is helping to get those injustices of the past dealt with. But at the same time, we've departed from the old strategies of subsidizing certain groups so they wouldn't complain about projects. So, for example, the Bipole West line which goes through the Portage area, went ahead because the previous government paid people to not to complain about it. That's not how we do business. People fought a long time to get rights. Indigenous people, all Canadians, and we don't think those rights should be for sale. Louis Riel would never have sold the rights of Métis people away for any amount of money. And so we're changing those old habits. And old habits die hard. Some people find it hard to accept they cannot simply threaten to delay a project like the floodway that we're going to be building to drain Lake Manitoba properly so people can get their lives back in that basin. Some people were wanting to delay that project. We don't think that's appropriate. And we aren't going to be paying people off so they won't. There's going to be a process, and I think what people will see over the next few years is that this new change in approach will ensure that these processes, and hearings, and so on, that have to be held, when projects like Bipole or a drainage project go ahead, are fair and that people are able to express their views on them, and they can have confidence that the right outcomes will be the result of that process."

Pallister adds the province is also number one in the country on private sector capital investment for both manufacturing and value-added agricultural investments in our province. He says this helps people stay in their regions and find work. And partnerships with First Nations is helping that as well.

"In terms of rural Manitoba Investments," Pallister continues, "we're investing more in rehabilitating schools as I referenced before because we frankly have to. And we're investing more in making sure that our healthcare facilities are up to snuff, and that we have the right equipment. But we're also making sure we're shopping intelligently. Too many purchases of the government in the past were done in a way different than what we'd manage our own money. And people paid too much using your tax dollars to get certain goods and services. So, we're in an exercise here of coordinating and shopping as you would. We're shopping smarter. And that's saving a lot of money, making sure you get better equipment, better machinery and better results from your construction projects, and what have you, than what was the case in the past. I'm excited about the direction we're going. It's only been two-and-a-half years. There's a lot of work to be done, but we've undertaken to focus on fixing the finances of our province after a decade of debt and repairing the services after a decade of decay. We're ranked last in most cases. Healthcare, education, social services, you name it. And we're also focused on making the economy grow. But we need the partnership of the private sector to see that happen. And it is happening. But more needs to be done. And we're really excited about the challenges ahead. We'll face them head-on the way Manitobans do."