Parties take aim with attack ads, but are they on target?

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This article was published 09/04/2016 (3535 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s no surprise that with less than two weeks until the April 19 election, the gloves are off and conjecture is running high.

The Progressive Conservatives and NDP have been trading salvos in recently released attack ads. The Tory ad accuses the NDP of wanting to increase taxes further. The NDP counter-attacks by saying Brian Pallister’s Tories will mirror Gary Filmon’s Tories of the 1990s and fire teachers and nurses.

The Free Press took a look at both ads to determine what truth lies behind the rhetoric.

THE NDP’s AD:

https://youtu.be/AJUoBAMqIhI

The party’s “No sacred cows” ad features an ominous pair of scissors slicing across the screen over text stating Pallister’s cuts are “just too risky.”

The claims:

700 teachers and 1,000 nurses were fired under the Filmon Progressive Conservatives

These two figures have been trotted out by the NDP for years. During the 1990s, times were tough, and Ottawa had gutted transfer payments to the province. As the Free Press previously reported, the claim of 1,000 nurses fired largely stems from a count made by the Manitoba Nurses Union in 1997. However, the Tories say that as hospitals and care homes became more centrally co-ordinated under the new Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, nursing jobs were eliminated in one location, but created elsewhere. According to data from the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba, there were 366 fewer nurses practising between 1993 and 1999.

The number for teachers comes from the Manitoba Teachers Society, which does not use the term “fired.” Using data from the province’s Financial Reporting and Accounting in Manitoba Education (FRAME), Manitoba went from 12,784 full-time equivalent positions in 1990 to 12,117 in 1996 — a drop of 667. When factoring in part-time teachers, according to the MTS calculations, the actual number of bodies lost was 767. This figure does not specify how many teachers retired, who left through attrition or those who chose to leave the profession.

Pallister has pledged $500 million in cuts

Another oft-repeated line by the NDP. It cites a Tory media release from January, which makes no mention of $500 million in cuts, but notes the party will spend no less than $1 billion per year on infrastructure and will roll back the PST. The NDP argues it plans to spend more each year on infrastructure ($1.024 billion is pledged for 2016-17 and $1.036 billion in 2017-18). Meanwhile, the rollback of the PST by one point will take about $300 million from government coffers. Add in the plan to increase Manitobans’ personal tax exemption (which will likely take more than $100 million out of government revenue) and the NDP claims that will translate to more than $500 million in cuts.

There are no sacred cows when it comes to cuts

Yes, Pallister said that, and the NDP has not let him forget it. When asked in March about government waste, Pallister replied, “There are no sacred cows here. The NDP has overspent in virtually every department.”

THE PC’s AD:

It states Greg Selinger will raise the PST to nine per cent if re-elected, arguing it is the only way he can pay for all of his spending promises.

The claims:

Selinger said he wouldn’t raise the PST in 2011

It’s true. After a debate during the 2011 election, Selinger told CTV News about “ridiculous ideas that we’re going to raise the sales tax. It is total nonsense, everybody knows that.”

The one-point raising of the sales tax was the biggest tax hike in Manitoba’s history

As The Canadian Press pointed out, the claim is questionable. If you adjust for inflation, the introduction of the provincial sales tax in 1967 (at a rate of five per cent) appears much bigger. The rate basically went from zero to five per cent.

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The NDP pondered raising the PST to nine per cent

The ad cites a 2014 story from The Canadian Press that revealed the province’s Finance Department analyzed the impact of a nine per cent tax but did not recommend it. When asked about it last month, Selinger said, “That’s just rumour and conjecture. We’ve put a fiscal plan forward that shows us moving the economy forward and reducing deficits while protecting core services.”

THE LIBERAL ADS: 

The party’s video and mailing ads have been relatively free of any direct attacks at the NDP or Tories. The party’s latest commercial features shots from the Liberal’s recent rally, with Leader Rana Bokhari asking Manitobans to “believe in a better Manitoba.”