Detailed, balanced, and fully costed, “A Plan For All Of Us” invests in health, good jobs, and an affordable quality of life for Manitobans

WINNIPEG — Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew released his election platform today — a plan that fixes the health care system Brian Pallister has thrown into crisis, and puts the interests of everyday families first.

“This election is about choices. Brian Pallister has chosen damaging cuts to health care, and education cuts are next. He’s made your life more expensive. And he has no good plan to protect our environment. These aren’t accidents; they are deliberate choices he has made. Because he’s only in it for those at the top,” said Kinew.

“Our platform is a plan for all of us. It represents different choices. We will cancel Brian Pallister’s rushed and reckless ER closures and cuts to Cancer Care, and start to replace the 500 nurses Pallister has fired. We will invest in, instead of cut, schools. And we will help create thousands of good careers to help young Manitobans build a life here.”

The platform makes three main commitments to Manitobans: Fix Pallister’s Health Crisis; Good Jobs and Sustainable Growth; and an Affordable Quality of Life. Highlights include:

Fix Pallister’s Health Care Crisis

• End the ER closures and re-open ERs; replace nurses fired by Pallister; and end the chaos in health care by listening to the people on the front lines;
• Real, effective action on the meth crisis beginning in the first 100 days;
• Transform mental health care for Manitobans;
  
  

Good Jobs and Sustainable Growth

• Smaller K-3 class sizes so our kids get the best possible start;
• Make significant investments in infrastructure such as roads, hospitals and schools, creating nearly 50,000 jobs in the process; reversing the 40% cut to the roads budget made by Pallister;
• Help thousands of post-secondary students better prepare for the jobs of the future; and use a strong, publicly owned Manitoba Hydro to create opportunities for careers to build a future around;
  
  

An Affordable Quality of Life

• Help families make greener choices and keep life affordable, while negotiating a better deal with the Federal government to put a price on pollution and make big polluters pay;
• Increase the minimum wage to $15 — because no one working full-time should live in poverty — while giving small business a break;
• Make it easier to buy a first home.
  
  

The platform is fully costed, maintains the same return-to-balance schedule as the 2019 government budget, and is based on the same economic-growth assumptions as found in the 2019 government budget.