WINNIPEG – Life is harder for regular Manitobans after just three years of Brian Pallister and his Conservatives.

“Everywhere we go, we hear that life has gotten harder for families under Brian Pallister. People know that he’s not working for them – Pallister’s in it for his friends at the top,” said NDP spokesperson Erin Selby. “And if he gets the chance, it is only going to get worse. Pallister will continue to cut health care and education, make life more unaffordable and introduce a new health care tax on Manitobans that could cost $900 a year.”

“This election, the NDP is fighting for all of us – for the everyday Manitobans that Brian Pallister ignores,” said Selby. “Our government would make different choices to put you and your family first. Only the NDP can put the brakes on Pallister’s cuts to health care and re-open ERs, fix education for our kids and build a sustainable economy with good jobs for all of us.”

Here are a few ways Pallister has made life harder for Manitobans:

• Fired 500 nurses and cut 128 acute-care beds, throwing the healthcare system into chaos and putting patient care at risk
• Pallister closed 3 ERs, 1 Urgent Care Centre, and 5 QuickCare Clinics
• ER waits are up over 37% since Pallister started closing emergency rooms
• Manitobans are waiting 9 weeks longer for hip surgery, nearly 6 weeks longer for knee surgery and 12 weeks longer for cataract surgery than in 2016
• Forced Manitobans to pay hundreds of dollars for physiotherapy visits, $500 for CPAP machines and thousands for drug coverage
• Hydro costs are up more than $100 (9.5%); MPI rates are up more than $100 (8%)
• College costs are up $500 a year; university costs are up more than $400 a year
• Increased class sizes for our youngest learners in K-3 while cutting supports for EAs, giving students less one-on-one time with their teachers
• Closed public libraries and attacked teachers across the province
• Longer child-care waits: more than 2,500 more families waiting for care while Pallister froze funding to centers for three straight years and now threatens to raise parent fees