Tory tax cuts bad for economy: Selinger

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This article was published 09/04/2016 (3561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba would be left out of Canada’s economy with the kind of cuts Conservative leader Brian Pallister laid out in his campaign platform, NDP leader Greg Selinger warned Saturday.

“We are in the last period of this election. Manitobans need to know the success we’ve had in this province is at risk. That means families will be worse off; if families aren’t working, they’re not able to look after themselves. If families aren’t supported with investments in infrastructure, that means their neighbourhoods aren’t going to be as safe and they’re not going to have the quality of life they deserve,” the NDP leader said.

Poll results put the Conservatives with a 20-point lead as the province heads into the final stretch of the election campaign. Manitobans go to the polls on April 19.

Selinger made the remarks at a press appearance Saturday with the St. Norbert riding’s NDP incumbent, Dave Gaudreau, at the St. Norbert Farmers Market.

As an additional campaign promise, the NDP would partner with the farmers’ market to build a permanent structure for the popular venue, now held in the summer on a parking lot and in the winter in a hall across the street on Pembina Highway.

Construction of the proposed structure is pegged at under $500,000 with the province’s share coming in at about $130,000.

Selinger used the appearance primarily to counter Pallister’s platform, describing it as a series of cuts to infrastructure investment and services that would result under a provincial Conservative government.

“Manitoba was confirmed yesterday as having the lowest unemployment rate in Canada and we can not put that at risk with cuts to services, which means cuts to jobs, cuts to infrastructure which means more potholes in Winnipeg,” the NDP leader warned.

Selinger said Manitoba’s projected infrastructure landscape under the Liberals’ massive infrastructure investments for Canada would change drastically under a Conservative government in this province.

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“That means the St. Norbert Bypass would not be done. That means 20,000 jobs would not be available to the economy,” the NDP leader said.

Pallister laid out his party’s campaign platform Friday, and characterized it as a “balanced” economic plan.

“The NDP are planning to spend five times as much as we are… I would argue we are running an innovative balanced campaign. We’re showing where we would save money and where we’d reinvest it,” Pallister said.

“The NDP are running an old-fashioned pork barrel campaign,” Pallister warned Friday.

Saturday morning Selinger aimed his remarks directly at his rival’s platform, characterizing it as a plan with “$140 million worth of cuts to government services and infrastructure programs. $1.8 billion worth of infrastructure would not be financed. That’s a 25 per cent cut in infrastructure,” Selinger said.