Party leaders spar over health, public safety at forum

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This article was published 04/04/2023 (1150 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The barbs were sharp and the tone was testy, at times, but none of three party leaders dropped their gloves at a leaders forum Tuesday.

Premier Heather Stefanson, NDP Leader Wab Kinew and Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont were asked about municipal funding, infrastructure, health care, and public safety in front of a crowd of around 400 at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities spring convention.

Right out of the gate, the premier accused the Opposition of putting forward “fiction” and “fear mongering” when it comes to her Progressive Conservative government’s record.

“I’m not here to fear monger or fool anyone,” the premier said.

Stefanson reminded the crowd that the 2013 NDP government raised the provincial sales tax to eight per cent after promising that it wouldn’t. The PST was lowered back to seven per cent in 2019 by a PC government.

“We will never raise your taxes. Don’t be fooled by them again,” the premier said.

The moderated event lasted a little over 90 minutes and offered the leaders a chance to sell their vision six months ahead of the Oct. 3 provincial election.

Kinew warned about “more cuts and chaos” if the Tories are re-elected; he promised to cut the bureaucracy at Shared Health if the NDP wins, and balance the budget during his first term in government, without saying how he’d do it.

Lamont told the crowd both the NDP and the PCs are to blame for Manitoba’s current woes. He asked the crowd why they would vote for any party other than his. “You don’t get change by doing the same thing over and over.”

Stefanson said her government has increased baseline operating funding to the municipalities by an average of 28 per cent, at a cost of $47 million. Her opponents pointed out her government had frozen operating funds to municipalities seven years ago after taking power in 2016.

Kinew blamed the PCs for creating a growing bureaucracy at Shared Health as Manitobans suffer owing to a lack of health-care professionals and rural communities fight the closing of emergency rooms.

The province needs to do more to compete with neighbouring provinces to retain nurses and other health staff it has now, he said.

The New Democrats will role out their plan to fix rural health care on May 1 in Virden, Kinew promised at the event.

The Liberal leader — whose party has just three seats in the legislature, not enough for official party status and the budget that comes with it — pointed out that Stefanson was the health minister when the system “collapsed” during the pandemic.

Lamont said rural communities are suffering because they can’t hire health professionals, such as lab staff and paramedics, owing to low salaries, and can’t retain them because many health workers haven’t had a contract for five years.

At the root of it, he said, is a lack of family doctors. Manitobans don’t receive timely treatment and end up in ERs as a result. Lamont called for more nurse practitioners to staff rural clinics.

Stefanson highlighted her government’s $200-million health human resources plan to recruit 2,000 health care professionals, which was announced last year.

“There is no quick fix to health care.”

The leaders also addressed concerns about public safety.

Manitoba municipalities have been calling for more policing in under-serviced rural areas for years. Last month, the association called out the rising cost of policing and the federal government for not including retroactive RCMP salary increases in its latest budget, or consulting municipalities, who foot the bill for policing in their communities.

Lamont said the province has received a record amount of funding transfers from the federal government but isn’t sharing it adequately with the municipalities.

Kinew said an NDP government would provide the municipalities with multi-year funding commitments indexed to inflation so they can better plan ahead.

He said the province is responsible for making sure municipalities have adequate funding for policing.

“Everyone needs to feel safe,” Kinew said

“Public safety is a top priority,” Stefanson said, pointing to the Tories’ $52-million strategy to combat violent crime. “We are the only party calling on the (federal) government for bail reform,” she said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca