Tories’ spending blitz ends ahead of election blackout By: Carol Sanders Posted: 7:29 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023

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This article was published 03/08/2023 (814 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At a splashy media event complete with professional basketball players, cheerleaders and an array of fans at centre court, the Tory government made one of its final spending announcements Thursday, one day before election blackout rules take effect.

The $1 million for the Sea Bears’ bid to host the 2025 league championship in Winnipeg is all about fighting for Manitobans rather than a fight for votes, Premier Heather Stefanson said at Canada Life Centre.

She said the announcement in support of the basketball team, which has had sellout crowds, had nothing to do with the end-of-day deadline under Election Financing Act rules that prohibit the government from advertising or publishing “any information about its programs or activities” in the 60 days before election day.

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“I will always fight for Manitobans and everything that’s great for Manitoba,” the premier said as weeks of government spending announcements — totalling more than $2.5 billion since June 1 — drew to a close.

“That’s why I’m here today as the premier of Manitoba to say how exciting it is for the Sea Bears to make it to where we are and the exciting future we have for this incredible team and our province,” she said. The event was attended by two members of her cabinet, including Sport Minister Obby Khan, who took to the podium to applaud the new sports team and his Progressive Conservative team.

“I am so proud and grateful to be part of a government led by our Premier Heather Stefanson that sees so much value in sports, arts and culture across this province,” said Khan, who repeated Monday’s announcement of $50 million in funding for arts, culture and sports.

The PC government’s pre-election spending blitz is no surprise, says political studies Prof. Christopher Adams. He said it reminds him of the NDP government doing likewise ahead of the 2016 election.

“It’s looking like it’s going to be a very tough election between the NDP and the PCs, so I’m not surprised they’re pulling out all the stops before the blackout,” Adams said.

A Mainstreet Research poll Thursday showed Stefanson’s PCs with a four-point lead over the NDP provincewide, but it indicated support for the NDP in Winnipeg — which is where elections are won because it has the largest population and the greatest number of seats — is 16 points ahead of the PCs.

The phone survey, conducted between July 26 and July 28 and commissioned by iPolitics.ca, found 36 per cent of Manitoba voters said they would cast a ballot for Stefanson’s PCs and 32 per cent would vote for Wab Kinew and the NDP. When asked to provide a breakdown for Winnipeg and the rest of the province, Mainstreet’s survey results show the PCs had 26.4 per cent support in Winnipeg, while 42.4 per cent supported the NDP.

Provincewide, nine per cent would vote for the Manitoba Liberals; 18 per cent were undecided. Thirty-seven per cent of respondents said they had a favourable view of Stefanson; 45 per cent said they had a favourable view of Kinew.

The poll surveyed 597 adults living in Manitoba, and has a plus or minus margin of error of four per cent with a confidence level of 95 per cent.

A Free Press-Probe Research Inc. poll conducted between May 31 and June 13 showed the governing Tories and official Opposition were tied at 41 per cent support.

As the blackout period begins Friday — 60 days ahead of the Oct. 3 election — the Tory government plans to respect the Election Financing Act, Stefanson told reporters.

The premier said they’ll remove government advertising that doesn’t abide by the law but will continue to publicize information on things like West Nile virus, the carbon tax and education property tax rebates.

A spokesman for the premier later clarified that current government ads touting the rebates would be replaced by new ads to let Manitobans know about the benefits they may be entitled to before the Sept. 30 deadline and how to collect them.

The NDP argued it appears like the PCs are exploiting a legal loophole.

“These are not new programs and weren’t just announced in the last couple of days,” NDP justice critic Matt Wiebe said at a press conference Thursday alleging the PCs can’t be trusted to follow the rules.

Manitobans, he said, will be watching for violations of the election law.

“I think it’s clear we are on the eve of an election.”–NDP justice critic Matt Wiebe

“I think Manitobans are smart enough to know what is clearly a message or an advertising campaign that gives them useful information, or is being used inappropriately by a government who’s desperate to distract from their record of the last seven years…” the member for Concordia said.

Adams at the U of M said Stefanson has an opportunity to silence her critics when it comes to partisan government ads violating the act.

“If they take them down with great rigour, and they’re adhering to the spirit of that legislation rather than the letter of the legislation, that would be good for the government to do, to show their respect for the spirit of the legislation and, secondly, to avoid making it a campaign issue.”

In a stunning move, the government signalled a truce in its years-long legal battle with the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, announcing late Thursday it won’t appeal a July 13 Manitoba Court of Appeal decision upholding a $19.4-million award to the faculty association for the cost of the 2016 strike and lost wages after the provincial government secretly meddled in contract negotiations.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen issued a statement saying the premier “has strongly signalled that it is time to turn the page for the benefit of UMFA members and all Manitobans.” The government had until Sept. 29 to seek leave to appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“I think it’s clear we are on the eve of an election,” Wiebe said Thursday.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

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Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.