As Manitobans prepared to head to the polls Tuesday, the leaders of the three main parties took one last shot at persuading voters to support them, bringing an end to a race dominated by health care, tax cuts and bitter political attacks.
Progressive Conservative Leader Heather Stefanson marked the end of her party’s re-election campaign Monday with the release of a fully costed platform.
“Our PC team is proud of all that we have accomplished,” Stefanson said at the party’s campaign headquarters in northwest Winnipeg alongside a dozen candidates hoisting signs bearing the party’s slogan, “Fighting for Manitobans.”
“In just two years, we have turned our economy around. More Manitobans are working than ever before and Manitoba is one of the fastest-growing provinces in the country.”
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Progressive Conservative Leader Heather Stefanson marked the end of her party’s re-election campaign Monday with the release of a fully costed platform.
Over the four-week campaign, the premier was notably absent from announcements and instead tapped incumbent ministers to defend their home turf and promote the party’s policies while she toured rural and northern Manitoba.
Stefanson last hosted a campaign announcement one week ago in Brandon.
In her final appeal to voters, Stefanson outlined her party’s plan to lower income taxes and eliminate the payroll tax; fight the federal government in court over the carbon tax; expand parents’ rights within the Public Schools Act; and increase spending on health care.
The Tuxedo candidate described NDP Leader Wab Kinew as a threat to both economic development and lowered taxes.
The Tories have staked their re-election bid on economic growth and massive tax breaks, making ambitious promises to grow Manitoba’s population to two million people by 2030 and replace hundreds of millions in cuts to tax revenue by attracting new industry and development to the province.
The party also launched late-stage negative advertising campaigns to attack the NDP and highlight the Tories’ opposition to a landfill search for the remains of two slain Indigenous women.
Stefanson said she will spend election day spent visiting with volunteers and candidates at campaign offices and voting with her family.
“In just two years, we have turned our economy around. More Manitobans are working than ever before and Manitoba is one of the fastest-growing provinces in the country.”–Heather Stefanson
According to Elections Manitoba, more than 200,000 people already cast their ballots in advance polls.
Recent polling suggests the Tories are headed to defeat after controlling the legislature for seven years. A poll by Probe Research conducted for the Free Press and CTV showed voter support for the NDP at 57 per cent in seat-rich Winnipeg, compared to 28 per cent for the PCs. Province-wide, the NDP had 49 per cent while the Tories had 38 per cent.
Kinew held his final campaign event Monday outside the Grace Hospital in Kirkfield Park — a popular spot for NDP candidates, who made at least three announcements on the hospital’s south lawn.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS NDP Leader Wab Kinew held his final campaign event Monday outside the Grace Hospital in Kirkfield Park — a popular spot for NDP candidates, who made at least three announcements on the hospital’s south lawn.
He promised to address bottlenecks in Winnipeg and Brandon emergency rooms by adding more than 130 ward beds to get triaged patients out of hallways, capping off a campaign that focused primarily on Manitoba’s beleaguered health-care system.
“It’s our belief that this is the No. 1 issue in Manitoba that needs attention,” Kinew said. “The economy suffers when health care is not operating to the best of its ability. The crisis that we see with addictions and in our communities around safety are a function of the inability of people with addictions to get access to health care and mental-health care.
“And so fixing health care has to be Job 1 for Manitoba’s next government.”
At the centre of the party’s platform is a promise to reopen three emergency rooms in Winnipeg converted to urgent-care centres by the Tories between 2017 and 2019 and a corresponding $500 million health human resources plan.
The NDP also made various commitments to make life in Manitoba more affordable — by freezing Manitoba Hydro electricity rates for one year and temporarily cutting the provincial gasoline tax — while promising to be tough on crime.
“Fixing health care has to be Job 1 for Manitoba’s next government.”–Wab Kinew
Kinew also secured support of former NDP premier Gary Doer and former Liberal MP Lloyd Axworthy. And several health-care unions and physicians publicly backed the NDP’s health-care plan.
Much of Kinew’s time on the campaign trail was spent in suburban Winnipeg constituencies the NDP hope to flip to lock in a majority government, including St. Boniface, Kirkfield Park and Fort Richmond.
Like Stefanson, the NDP leader said he will spend election day visiting campaign offices, dropping off food for volunteers and encouraging Manitobans to vote.
“We’ve done the campaigning, and now it’s up to you, the people of Manitoba, and we’re asking for you to vote for better health care and to vote to change the government,” Kinew said.
Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont, meanwhile, spent the final day on the campaign trail, imploring voters to “stop the NDP and PCs” by casting their ballots for a Liberal candidate.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont, meanwhile, spent the final day on the campaign trail, imploring voters to “stop the NDP and PCs” by casting their ballots for a Liberal candidate.
The party must add at least one seat to the three it had when the campaign began in order to gain official status in the legislature. The New Democrats have targeted both St. Boniface and River Heights, held by Lamont and longtime MLA and former Liberal leader Jon Gerrard, respectively.
The Liberals hope to hold the NDP or PCs to a minority government, Lamont said, and Tuesday will be spent working overtime to get every single vote out.
“It’s just about getting as many Manitoba Liberals elected as possible for us… and the sky’s the limit,” he said at a campaign event with two dozen candidates and supporters at St. Boniface Cathedral.
“It’s just about getting as many Manitoba Liberals elected as possible for us… and the sky’s the limit.”–Dougald Lamont
“I’m very, very proud of the campaign we’ve run so far because I do know we’ve changed hearts and minds, and it’s not just me. I would never have been able to do it without support and the conviction of the people around me.”
Polls are open Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
— with files from Carol Sanders
