Selinger issues price tag for vows

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This article was published 16/04/2016 (3527 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NDP Leader Greg Selinger released the cost of his campaign promises Friday while challenging Tory Leader Brian Pallister to be “more transparent” on his agenda.

Surrounded by about 30 candidates and MLAs at the Jonathan Toews Community Centre, Selinger attached costs to the promises he has made since the campaign began. But the new cost totals did not include the price tag for a slew of promises made before the campaign; that was included in the government’s recent economic and fiscal outlook, the NDP said.

The governing party says its new campaign commitments will add $34.2 million in annual operating costs this year and $137.3 million by 2020-21.

A week ago, Pallister released the cost of his promises, which he said would amount to $116.9 million in the first full year of a PC government (2017-18). Pallister also promised to find $138.8 million in savings to pay for his pledges.

Meanwhile, the NDP also released the cost of its proposed capital projects, which include new personal care home beds, new child-care centres and film-industry supports. Those new projects and others total $343 million.

Selinger could not immediately say whether the latest promises would alter the government’s projections for a balanced budget in 2019. But the NDP campaign later issued a statement stating they would not.

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Selinger said Pallister has not been upfront about his plans for education funding, and he needs to clarify what he means about possibly involving the private sector more in the delivery of health care. He said the Tory leader should state whether that would mean privatizing home care or personal care homes.

“Elections are about giving people clear choices. Mr. Pallister is evading providing people with clear choices,” he said.

The Progressive Conservatives issued a statement saying the NDP platform leaves out the cost of rapid transit, as well as the price tag for moving rail lines, an idea that would require billions of dollars to implement. The Tories repeated claims the NDP is promising more than $600 million in new spending.

“This guarantees one thing for Manitobans, a higher PST,” the statement charged.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca