Conservative candidate runs for re-election

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This article was published 03/09/2021 (1645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Incumbent Marty Morantz is looking to hold down his seat as the CPC MP for Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley.

Elected in 2019, Morantz defeated Doug Eyolfson (Lib.) by a margin of 2,414 votes. Having served just under two-and-a-half years, Morantz is hoping to continue his momentum.

“I’m very excited about our party’s platform; I think it’s one of the best platforms we’ve ever put forward,” he said.

“It has a focus on a wide range of issues including economic growth: getting young people back to work, getting businesses back up on their feet…There’s a very strong emphasis on health care.”

The CPC platform would see one of the largest increases in health care in the history of Canada, Morantz said. The federal government would achieve this through doubling transfer payments for health care to the provinces. Part of the money would be earmarked for mental health services, he added.

“One of the things that we learned during the pandemic was that mental health services are seriously underfunded across the country,” Morantz said.

The CPC’s motion to create a three-digit suicide prevention hotline is another issue that, if elected, Morantz will continue to back.

Apart from health care and the economy, Morantz’s platform looks at the climate crisis as another pressing issue. The CPC’s take on carbon pricing differs from that of the Liberals, he told The Metro.

Instead of the current carbon tax rebate system—which sees rebate payments go to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, educational institutions and municipal governments—the CPC would see levies on fuel purchases go into a personal low carbon savings account.

“Not a single penny of the money collected from the carbon pricing would go to the government,” Morantz said. “People would get, essentially, any money that they paid toward carbon pricing, and they would be able to use that money to make green purchases.”

Those expenditures could include bus passes, bicycles and electric cars, he added.

“I think it’s a very forward-thinking policy, and I’m excited about the possibility of implementing it if we form government,” he said.

Morantz hopes to continue his work realizing projects that are unique to west Winnipeg and Headingley.

“One of the projects that was very important to me was the renovation and the upgrade of the St. James Civic Centre,” he said. “I’ve been advocating for federal funding for that in parliament.”

Prior to entering federal politics Morantz served as Charleswood’s city councillor from 2014-2018. Morantz has a bachelor of arts in political studies from the University of Manitoba and a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He practised law for 23 years as a partner at Levene Tadman LLP in Winnipeg.

“Since I was very young, I was always interested in politics and public service,” he said.

Doug Eyolfson (Lib.) was also registered as a candidate in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley at press time.