Fighting for Manitobans:
A Stable, Experienced Platform for a Stronger Manitoba
Fighting for Bigger Paycheques, Safer Streets, Healthier Communities, and Manitoba’s Future: Stefanson
- October 2, 2023
WINNIPEG — Today, PC Leader Heather Stefanson released her fully-costed and budgeted campaign platform to Manitoba voters. It focuses on the real issues Manitobans are facing: affordability, crime and safety, healthy and vibrant communities, and growing our great province.
“I’ve been listening to Manitobans across the province,” Stefanson said. “People need a stable, experienced government willing to fight for them. Our platform builds off of our fully-costed Budget 2023, which provided historic funding for health care, education, and social services, following a balanced budget in 2022/23.”
The PCs have laid out a plan that focuses on what matters most to Manitobans: affordability, healthy communities, economic development, and safer streets. Key highlights of our platform include:
Affordability
- Bigger paycheques for all Manitobans by lowering the first provincial income tax bracket in half, with savings that will average over $1,900—the equivalent of an extra paycheque for many Manitobans;
- Eliminating the Land Transfer Tax on first-time homebuyers, saving young and new Manitobans an average of $5,700; and
- Fighting the NDP-Trudeau coalition’s punishing carbon tax, and removing it off of Manitoba Hydro bills within the first 10 days in office.
Healthy Communities
- Creating a permanent $120-million recruitment and retention fund for health-care staff across the province, building on our $400-million Health Human Resource Action Plan;
- Helping more Manitobans recover from their addictions by doubling the number of treatment spaces across Manitoba, and supporting the Quest Health Recovery Centre, a long-term treatment program for First Nations run by First Nations;
- Helping families build vibrant communities by providing $100 million to support arts, culture, and amateur sport projects and programming being undertaken by community organizations throughout the province; and
- Updating parental rights in Manitoba’s Public Schools Act to reflect modern issues, and ensure parents are more involved and better informed of what’s happening in the day-to-day lives of their children at school.
Economic Development
- Keeping Manitoba competitive for businesses and job creation by eliminating the job-killing NDP payroll tax over 8 years, with the first 50% reduction phased out over a new four-year mandate;
- Giving Mantioba consumers more choice by expanding retail liquor sales into grocery stores;
- Filling 100,000 jobs over the next five years with a $16-million skills training and recruitment fund to leverage private sector investment; and
- Leveraging Manitoba’s affordable, clean energy to attract and power new industries entering the provincial economy, as well as strengthening emerging industries with expanded tax incentives.
Safer Streets
- Defending—not defunding—our police to ensure safer streets by expanding the Winnipeg Police Service’s Property Crime Unit, as well as attracting more officers to Northern Manitoba by restoring the cost-of-living allowance cut by the federal government;
- Bringing proven community outreach and support to the City of Brandon by expanding the Downtown Community Safety Partnership to provide non-emergency response to residents in need and reduce strain on police resources;
- Investing $10 million to bolster supports for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, including women’s shelters and counselling services; and
- Leading the charge against NDP-Trudeau federal soft-on-crime policies by calling all provinces and territories together to review Canada’s Criminal Code, and pushing the NDP-Trudeau coalition on tougher sentencing for heinous crimes.
-30-
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]