Liberals kick off campaign by promising billion dollars in new spending

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/09/2023 (774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Liberal Party Leader Dougald Lamont released a platform that proposes targeted tax hikes and a billion dollars in new spending as he officially launched his party’s election bid Wednesday, on his home turf in St. Boniface and backed by dozens of supporters.

He pledged to mostly repeal the Tory government’s marquee education property tax rebate program and make significant changes to the provincial income tax schedule, if the party is elected government Oct. 3.

“We’re told all the time that Manitoba Liberals who are fiscally responsible, evidence-based, centrist and progressive, that our political opinions have no place in government in Manitoba, just because the other parties say so,” Lamont told reporters at Parc Commémoratif Elzéar Goulet on Tache Avenue, which memorializes the Métis leader who was drowned in the Red River by members of the Wolseley Expedition in 1870.

“No one can tell me that the PCs or the NDP deserve a majority government,” said Lamont, who was applauded by roughly 60 supporters, including dozens of candidates.

The party’s platform focuses on rebuilding the health care, education, and justice systems and investing in the province following the COVID-19 pandemic, the leader said.

It will, however, require some Manitobans to sacrifice tax rebates offered by the Progressive Conservatives to increase spending and fix systems that are in “shambles,” Lamont said.

A Manitoba Liberal government would cancel education property tax rebates for about 80 per cent of property owners, Lamont said; rebates would continue to be issued to “lower income Manitobans, small property owners, people with disabilities, and seniors on fixed incomes.”

The program will cost the provincial treasury $453.2 million in 2023-24, with about $40 million going to commercial and industrial property owners and $54.8 million to farm property owners.

Lamont couldn’t say where he would draw the line on rebates, but someone with a residential property valued at $350,000 shouldn’t expect to receive a cheque unless they meet other eligibility criteria.

“It just cannot be justified in my mind because we are borrowing money when we don’t have it,” Lamont said, adding it’s one thing to run a deficit to pay for services in Manitoba and another to borrow money to send cheques to out-of-province corporations.

“This is all about investing in Manitoba, genuine investments that are going to improve our health-care system and reduce crisis costs.”

The party would raise provincial income taxes on people who earn more than $120,000 by changing the basic personal exemption. People who earn up to $120,000 would be taxed on a sliding scale, and people who earn $300,000 or more would receive no basic personal exemption.

“Our long-term goal is to bring income taxes down,” the platform states. “In order to do so, we are asking the top four per cent to pay a little more while we rebuild the essential public services we need to support communities and economic growth.”

Lamont described the changes as “truly progressive” and a benefit to lower- and middle-income earners.

The platform’s main planks include health care; fiscal policy and the cost of living; justice and standing with the victims of crime; reconciliation; climate and the environment; education and culture; and rebuilding responsible government.

The party’s commitments — which include bonuses for health care workers, coverage for psychotherapy, a guaranteed minimum income for people over 60 and those with severe physical or mental disabilities, and expanding $10-a-day child care — amount to more than $1 billion in new spending.

A precise accounting of the platform will be provided during the campaign, Lamont said, but commitments would be paid for by abandoning some Tory programs, including the property tax rebates, and through income tax changes.

He also accused both the NDP and the PCs of abandoning their base, and appealed to their supporters to choose his party instead.

The NDP has given a “seal of approval” on right-wing policy by adopting the PC government’s 2023 fiscal framework, Lamont said. Meanwhile, the PCs have not demonstrated fiscal responsibility, he argued.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Election Extra

During Elections

Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during civic, provincial and federal elections.

Sign up for Election Extra

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew dismissed Lamont’s criticism Wednesday, saying the Liberal party is aligned with the Tories on the closure of three Winnipeg emergency rooms between 2017 and 2019. Kinew has promised to reopen the ERs, which Lamont has described as a “return to what was already not working.”

The Liberals have been trailing in the polls, with provincial support for the party at 10 per cent, according to a June Free Press-Probe Research poll; within Winnipeg, support was 12 per cent.

However, Lamont remained firm Wednesday his party can earn enough seats on Oct. 3 to hold influence over government policy.

“If you want to vote anybody but conservative in Manitoba, there’s only one choice and it’s the Manitoba Liberal Party and our candidates,” Lamont said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca