Ministry of Government Services (Manitoba)

The Minister of Infrastructure is a cabinet position in the government of Manitoba charged with oversight of the department of Manitoba Infrastructure. The department

"is responsible for the development of transportation policy and legislation, and for the management of the province’s vast infrastructure network."

On May 3, 2016, Blaine Pedersen was appointed to the portfolio by the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Pallister.

The Minister of Public Works was created on January 13, 1871, carrying out the responsibilities of the Board of Public Works from the defunct Council of Assiniboia. The minister was responsible for overseeing the new government's involvement in the development and maintenance of roads, bridges, ferries and related services.

The first Public Works minister of Manitoba was Thomas Howard, who resigned from the position after only ten days to exchange portfolios with Provincial Secretary Alfred Boyd. Until Edward Hay's resignation in 1874, all ministers of Public Works in Manitoba were also ministers of Agriculture (J.H. Ellis, The Ministry of Agriculture in Manitoba, p. 54).

Manitoba's population increased significantly in the late nineteenth century, and the department of Public Works became increasingly important in providing services to new arrivals. During the premiership of Rodmond Roblin (1900–1915), the department became especially powerful as a tool of government patronage. Robert Rogers, who held the portfolio for eleven years, was sometimes regarded as the second-most-important figure in the Roblin government.

In late 1914, Public Works Minister Walter Humphries Montague was forced to announce that expenditures for the province's new legislative buildings would be exceeded by fifty per cent. Roblin was forced to appoint a Royal Commission to study the controversy, and his government resigned from office the following year after the commission report identified instances government corruption and kickbacks. Montague was indicted on fraud charges, but died before legal proceedings could begin.

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Wikipedia