Tories put drag racing, security in election platform spotlight

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This article was published 25/09/2023 (755 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Entering the final lap of the Manitoba election race, the Progressive Conservatives shifted gears: from promising tax cuts to fighting crime.

On Monday — eight days before voters go to the polls — the Tories held campaign announcements in Winnipeg and Brandon promising to crack down on street racing, retail and hotel crime, and to address safety concerns in downtown Brandon.

The PCs’ first “fighting crime” promise Monday was made at the Winnipeg intersection where an alleged street racing crash sent two people to hospital Sept. 17.

Kirkfield Park PC candidate Kevin Klein promised $1 million to install automated camera technology to identify high-speed offenders and monitor noise levels, and $100,000 for a public education campaign.

“Catching someone going 14 or 15 km (per hour) over the speed limit is one thing, but this is going to be geared towards those drag racers,” the former city councillor said at Portage Avenue and Sturgeon Boulevard. “We know where the areas are. This will allow us to act in real time and it will take a look at the noise.”

Three years ago, the province rejected a request from city council for permission to use photo enforcement technology to enforce noise infractions. At the time, the provincial government said photo enforcement is meant to improve safety, not to go after noisy mufflers.

The alleged racers in the Sept. 17 incident were charged with racing and careless driving under the provincial Highway Traffic Act and had their vehicles impounded.

On Monday, Klein (who won the Kirkfield Park seat in a December 2022 byelection) said he received calls from constituents Sunday night, complaining about the noise from drag racing on Portage Avenue.

The new program the PCs are proposing will require Manitoba Public Insurance involvement and minimal police resources, he said.

“Officers can’t be everywhere all the time,” Klein said. “There’s technology now that will allow us to identify the drivers, to identify the licence plates.”

In Brandon, PC Leader Heather Stefanson promised $2 million to establish a Downtown Community Safety Partnership program modelled after one in Winnipeg.

The non-emergency, 24-7 community presence offers support to the most vulnerable experiencing homelessness, crime and addictions, while reducing the strain on police, 911 and other emergency responders, the Tory premier said.

Later in the day in Winnipeg, Steinbach candidate and Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen promised $3 million in annual funding for restaurants, hotels and retail outlets to upgrade security measures.

“Hoteliers, restaurants and other retail outlets can apply to it to provide funding for both preventative measures to stop crime from happening — (install shatter-proof) rock glass or gates or alarms or cameras — but also when they’ve experienced crime through broken glass, vandalism or graffiti” to help with the cost of repairs and clean-up, Goertzen said.

It’s also important to help them address problems as quickly as possible, because seeing vandalism and graffiti makes people feel “unsafe” and is bad for business, Goertzen added.

The veteran PC MLA, who served as caretaker premier after Brian Pallister stepped down and before the party elected Stefanson, made the announcement with a number of PC candidates in the Fort Garry electoral district, outside the Pony Corral restaurant on Pembina Highway.

The funding is something many Manitoba hotel, restaurant and retail business owners have been asking for, said Goertzen.

He said chambers of commerce and other groups would be consulted on how to set up the program and administer it.

In British Columbia, for example, a similar program allows applicants to go through chambers of commerce or government for up to $2,000 to replace glass broken by theft or vandalism and an additional $1,000 for security cameras or security gates, Goertzen said.

“You don’t have to wait for something to happen — you can apply for that as a preventative measure.”

When asked if the $3 million for safety measures announced Monday would extend to grocery stores — which the PCs promised Sunday, if re-elected, would be allowed to sell liquor — Goertzen said it does not.

“That wasn’t part of the announcement, nor have I heard from businesses that they’re looking at that, because we’re not there yet.”

Not every grocery store will choose to sell booze, the MLA said.

“Individual businesses will make that decision based on what they feel their own comfort level is,” Goertzen said.

“Businesses, if they’re making a choice to sell a particular product, they’re going to obviously build that into their business plans and make a determination of how they’re going to do that safely.”

The NDP dismissed the Tories’ promises to fight crime.

“No one believes Heather Stefanson or the PCs on crime and safety. They say one thing and do another,” spokesperson Rebecca Widdicombe said Monday. “They cut programs while violent crime increased.”

The Liberals accused the Tories of creating a crime “crisis” campaign promises don’t come close to fixing.

“The PCs are campaigning on being tough on crime, when crime across the province is in a state of crisis,” Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said in an email.

“This announcement and commitment is simply responding to the chaos the PCs have caused for the last seven years in government. We need to be addressing the root causes of crime, which Heather Stefanson has no interest in doing.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

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.

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