Doug Martindale - Opposition Member

Opposition Member

NDP support had recovered somewhat by the 1990 election, and Martindale was able to defeat Chornopyski in a rematch. The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government under Gary Filmon, and Martindale served in the official opposition as his party's critic for family services and housing. He opposed the Filmon government's cuts to child welfare and education support, and called for an inquiry into allegations of emotional abuse and unethical treatment at the Osborne House battered women's shelter. He also criticized the government's introduction of a "welfare fraud hotline", describing it as "punitive and unnecessary" and noting that Manitoba lost far more money each year to income tax fraud. Nonetheless, Martindale supported the government's early intervention policy as a means of keeping more children with their families and out of the supervision of Child and Family Services.

Martindale was re-elected in the 1995 general election, as the Progressive Conservatives won a second majority government across the province. He continued to serve as family services critic, and opposed another round of child welfare cuts introduced by the Filmon government later in the year. When the government introduced further benefit cuts of up to 10% for single, employable people, Martindale described Filmon's administration as the "cruelest, most heartless government in Canada". In 1999, he and fellow NDP MLA Diane McGifford organized consultative meetings of parents and day-care providers.