Liberals unveil costed-out party platform

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/09/2019 (2436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After weeks of promises, Manitoba Liberals on Sunday revealed how much they will all cost and how they plan to pay for them.

The platform paper was released in Winnipeg by Leader Dougald Lamont.

“Hundreds of thousands of Manitobans are going to the polls Tuesday with doubt in their hearts. They can’t trust who they’re voting for is going to fix anything,” Lamont said in a news release.

“The Manitoba Liberal Party is here to show them we can work smarter, invest in growth, keep people healthy, and save the climate — all while balancing the budget.

“Everything we’ve put forward this election are ideas we have aggressively pursued in the legislature every day. We’ve shown (Progressive Conservative Leader Brian) Pallister the evidence that his austerity is causing a recession. Now we’ve shown Manitobans that our math checks out, too.”

On climate, the party said it will spend $47 million in the first year, rising to $87 million by 2023-24, on helping municipalities upgrade sewage-treatment infrastructure, create a $7-million fund to help pay for remediation of soil and the environment in communities with lead contamination, restore the 50/50 funding agreement and tap into more than $500 million in dedicated federal funding to improve transit systems and make the province carbon neutral by 2030.

It estimates it will spend $20 million each year on a Manitoba Police Service to complement the work of the RCMP and municipal police services as well as launching “Safe Place” programs for people at risk.

The Liberals say they will spend $85 million on health care in the first year, rising to $98 million in the fourth year on a number of initiatives, including: merging the province’s regional health authorities and Shared Health back into Manitoba Health to cut out unnecessary levels of bureaucracy; cover clinical psychological therapy under Medicare, improve wait times for hip and knee surgery; initiate supports to tackle the meth crisis; set up a 24/7 virtual addictions hotline; reinstate the Life-Saving Drugs Program; build 1,200 affordable seniors units and invest in primary care.

The party platform says the Liberals will create 18,000 child-care spaces, increase funding for access to education with “zero barriers” by $5 million, or 50 per cent in the first year. The Liberal platform also calls for developing a 10-year education for K-12 students.

Its plan for education will cost $56.5 million in the first year, increasing by about $3 million in the fourth year.

The party says it will spend $25.5 million a year to create a family reunification stream of the provincial nominee program and remove the $500 ‘head tax’ brought in by the Progressive Conservatives, improve access to high-speed Internet and cellphone coverage in northern Manitoba within three years and invest in French services.

The economy takes big chunk of the costed-out platform, with the party spending just over $1 billion in the first year on a number of initiatives, including creating a Manitoba Business Development Bank, creating an independent commission to review Manitoba’s tax system, increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024 and creating a 10-year strategic infrastructure plan that prioritizes urgent and high-return-on-investment infrastructure programs.

The Liberals’ plan would increase the province’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through cost savings and new revenues.

“It’s unfortunate that the Liberals chose to wait until two days before election day — after the advance voting period is complete — to release their platform,” Brandon East NDP candidate Lonnie Patterson said in an email to the Sun.

“We know the No. 1 priority in this election is health care, and we are the only party that has offered a clear alternative to Brian Pallister’s health-care cuts.”

“You have to look at what they (candidates) can really do if they were fortunate enough to get into power,” said Len Isleifson, the Progressive Conservative candidate in Brandon East.

“I just don’t see a lot of substance in their platform,” he said. “Myself, I don’t see how they can do a lot of things that they’re saying they’re doing and where they’re getting their numbers from, how they’re going to pay for things. Unless they’re going to be looking at raising taxes, as well, which is what I truly believe is the only way they can do it.”

NDP candidates Nick Brown (Brandon West) and Justin Shannon (Spruce Woods) both took shots at a number of the items listed in the Liberal platform.

For one, Brown said, the Liberals believe they can build 1,200 personal care home beds for $150,000 a bed.

“That is the exact same number the Tories used to build their beds — which previously the Liberals have said is unrealistic,” he said.

Reg Helwer, the Progressive Conservative candidate in Brandon West, said he had no comment on the Liberal platform.

“It’s not for particular candidates to comment on other parties’ platforms,” he said.

» brobertson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @BudRobertson4