NDP calls $2.5B in promised spending fishy

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This article was published 01/08/2023 (817 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP says the Progressive Conservatives can’t be trusted to deliver the more than $2.5 billion in spending they’ve promised since June 1, especially in light of broken pre-election promises in 2016 and 2019.

The Tories countered that the only cuts they want to make is to taxes.

NDP house leader Nahanni Fontaine and party whip Matt Wiebe held a press conference Tuesday to remind Manitobans that when the Tories promised to protect front-line health services and education in the past, emergency room closures and larger class sizes followed.

“It’s our job as the official Opposition to ensure that Manitobans remember who these PCs are and their actions speak louder than words,” Wiebe said.

The New Democrats discredited the $2.5-billion spending tally from June 1 to July 31 in PC government pre-election news releases (not including the $50 million announced Monday for arts, culture and sports, or Tuesday’s $84 million for municipal infrastructure programs and $3.3 million for home care).

“What’s outlandish are press releases that talk about future investments that have had no investment to this point, no commitments to this point and now, all of a sudden at the 11th hour, this government is willing to say anything,” Wiebe said.

“All of a sudden they’re going to fix health care? Well, they’re the ones who broke it,” he said.

“These are big promises that are meant to distract from their very horrible record of austerity and cuts,” said Fontaine.

“There is no way for this PC government to execute any of these promises of $2.5 billion without cuts,” she said. “We want to ensure that Manitobans remember the PCs have cut in numerous and very detrimental ways to Manitobans,” she said.

A spokesman for Premier Heather Stefanson’s office said the opposite is true.

“The only cuts our PC team is interested in are tax cuts,” he said in an email Tuesday. “We are making historic investments in health care and education, while also making life more affordable by lowering taxes.”

At an event Tuesday to announce a new rail freight facility at CentrePort, Stefanson explained how her government plans to pay for its promises.

“Our whole plan — and why we’re here today — is to grow our economy,” the premier said when asked about her government’s $2.5 billion in promised spending.

“Our whole plan — and why we’re here today — is to grow our economy.”–Premier Heather Stefanson at CentrePort

“We know if we grow our economy, it means more tax dollars to the province of Manitoba and that’s how we’re going to pay for more education, health care and social services.”

The premier’s spokesman accused the NDP of “fearmongering.”

He called it “the Wab way” — referring to official Opposition Leader Wab Kinew by his first name only — “to deflect from his plan to kill jobs and raise taxes. Manitobans cannot afford another tax-and-spend NDP government.”

Wiebe accused the PC’s of misleading Manitobans in the last two provincial elections and continuing to do so ahead of the Oct. 3 election.

“How can anybody trust Heather Stefanson and the PCs at this point? Over the last two months we’ve seen over 100 desperate press releases and promises that they have no intention of keeping and no ability to keep… It’s very concerning to Manitobans — we’ve seen this play before,” said the MLA for Concordia.

“Leading up to the 2016 election, they promised no health care cuts,” recalled Wiebe. “The first thing that they did was they cut the ER at Concordia Hospital and the ERs at Seven Oaks and Victoria hospitals.”

During the 2019 election, the PCs said they were done with health care cuts, said Wiebe. “They got re-elected and the first thing they did was cut cancer care clinics at Seven Oaks and Concordia.”

In 2020, CancerCare announced that people receiving outpatient care at Concordia Hospital and Seven Oaks General Hospital would access care elsewhere in Winnipeg as it consolidated services.

Wiebe called the flurry of PC funding announcements ahead of the fall election “a desperate bid to hold on to power.”

“I think Manitobans can see through it,” said Wiebe.

The New Democrats will present a fully costed and balanced platform closer to the election, he said.

— With files from Gabrielle Piche

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca