Discussions

Based on the information below(numbers pulled from government sources). Can the Conservatives out there explain why I should vote for Pallister. I'm not an NDP fan and won't be voting for them, but tell me why Conservative? I'm paying more provincial taxes now than in 2015 even with the PST cut as my property taxes went up(due to provincial property tax credit decrease) and I seem to be getting less for it. Also the Conservative government currently has about $1 billion more than the NDP in transfer payments from Ottawa.  
 
 
Province of Manitoba 2015 under NDP  
 
The deficit in 2015-16 was $846 million.  
Net debt in 2015-16 was $21.4 billion.  
Unemployment Rate 5.3%  
Manitoba Personal Income Tax first $31,000 10.80%  
Transfer payments from Ottawa $3,820,000,000  
 
 
Province of Manitoba 2019 under Conservative  
 
The deficit total projected shortfall for 2019-20 $902 Million  
Projected debt for 2019-20 is expected to rise to $26.1 billion, up $902 million from 2018-19  
Unemployment Rate 5.3%  
Manitoba Personal Income Tax first $32,670 10.80%  
Transfer payments from Ottawa $4,815,000,000 almost $1 billion more.  
Huge tax increase done by reworking the property tax credit, many rural property tax bills doubled or more.  
 
Health care - 3 Winnipeg hospitals closed, $120 million budget cut and wait times are up across province(according to recent report).  
Education - New schools are opening/announced but when adjusted for inflation education budget is down compared to NDP 2015. Huge population increases in the last 8 years show the need for more schools as well as a higher budget. Education budget again only increased by .5%, one half of one percent, less than inflation. Meaning again a cut for the education budget with more schools and students.  
 
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/pallister-s-tax-cuts-will-slowly-starve-hospitals-and-schools-823047258.html  
 
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-devastation-of-manitoba?fbclid=IwAR0RpGi488Er7OQaZTV_IpV9KKJJyvSN8IMj8ACi6nSk6a5GUh7MdC589jE

What he/she said: perfectly sensible.

I hear that over and over but do the math. It doesn't add up. They have a billion dollars more in transfer payments. Get more tax revenue, from the middle class anyway. Cut 100's of millions from social programs, but the debt keeps increasing. Either the MB conservatives are spending more than the NDP or they've given huge tax breaks to the rich. Please explain the math. The explanation that it's a previous governments fault is anything but reasonable.

Vote NDP. If conservatives win they will introduce a mandatory monthly health care premium for every working family and seniors. and most probably more cuts to health care treatments are on the horizon if conservatives win  
 
Also curious to know how often does Pallister govern Manitoba from his home in Costa Rica  
 
Edited by daxx, 2019-09-10 07:32:11

the answer is in the interest Manitoba is paying on the deficits the NDP ran up.  
Something like $1, 000,000,000. a year.  
If we look at the USA cities that are in financial trouble and in social trouble you will see they are run by Democrats, you are like the NDP.  
They support public employee union, provide huge retirement packages to public employees.  
Detroit went into recievership.  
Chicago's isn't far behind, their school system is in shambles.  
And thats one example.  
Remember that social programs take money to run.  
Money that comes from taxes.  
Raise taxes on the public, they eventually move out of province.  
Raise business taxes, business move away also.  
And the conservatives did not close 3 hospitals in Winnipeg.  
They closed the 3 ER's and made them into critical care.  
It was realigning priority and followed the NDP results of a study done by the NDP on how to improve health care.

The NDP have promised to reverse all the Conservative cuts, add more program spending, have more free stuff & balance the budget in a couple of years.  
This is not even possible but will result in lots of new taxes for everyone.

That ole health care tax scare tactic again?  
 
As for Pallister in CR, the times he was there was broken down by the NDP and there was not one time he was out of this country while the legislature was sitting.  
Frankly I looked at the numbers and thought 'wth are the NDP crying about'. Over three years Pal was in CR numerous times and it didn't amount to much time at all. Over three years people!  
Would Wab Kinew be happier if Pallister never went to CR and enjoyed his home there?  
Would Wab feel better if Pallister pitched a tent at Clear Lake?  
I don't feel envy because Pallister can afford a second home away from home but apparently some do!  
 
Edited by Johnbisonbear, 2019-09-10 10:06:44

For those of you who haven't voted yet today, as especially those who are still undecided or feel like none of the parties/candidates are acceptable, for whatever reason...  
 
Did you know Manitoba is one of only 4 provinces (along with Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta) that allows you to decline your ballot? It's essentially voting "none of the above". Your declined ballot is counted as valid (vs. spoiling your ballot, which becomes invalid), but without selecting any of the given candidates.  
 
You simply write "declined" on the ballot and submit as usual. Generally, instructions will be posted somewhere at your polling site.  
 
Lots of people don't vote because they don't know who to vote for, or don't like the choices presented. People showing up to decline their ballot sends a very different message than not voting, which is often interpreted as voter apathy.  
 
I'm not a big believer in hold-your-nose-and-vote (although I have done it once). If you truly can't vote for any particular party and/or candidate in good conscience, then declining your ballot may be a good option for you.  
 
No matter how you vote, please make sure you exercise this important democratic right, even if it's to vote "none of the above"!  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2019-09-10 11:52:27

...don't vote don't complain. If you don't like who is running get involved instead of being a keyboard warrior.

Thank you for posting the information about declining your ballot.  
Many people don’t like any of the choices that are being offered, and election turnout sort of proves this. If there was a 85% turnout out with a 50% decline the message would get through that people are not happy.

FYI, there weren't three hospitals closed. Some had ERs changed to urgent care , but weren't "closed".  
Don't believe all the Left false news

I know that both fiscal responsibility and change are tough for anyone. Spending endlessly leads to immediate stress if you could not care less about where the money is coming from.  
 
As for number of nurses, reports can be easily skewed. The reports I have seen that show the number of nurses going up takes into account the position in the health authorities while the reports showing the numbers decreasing include health authority positions and private positions. So if the numbers are down due mainly to private position cuts, this can not be blamed on health authority cuts. In my opinion, damage to the health authorities would likely lead to an increase in private positions. Again, when one sees conflicting data, one tends to see it the way they wish so hard to say.  
 
As for wait times, This chart seems pretty clear but, again, there are like charts that show different.  
 
https://www.wrha.mb.ca/wait-times/report.php  
 
I guess what I am saying is that while there may be some discomfort in the health care system, it is not to the extent Mr. Kinew says and for a single topic candidate to have to continue to perpetuate exaggerations is concerning to me.

My thought process is the NDP had 17 uninterrupted years of rule prior to the current conservative government to make all these fixes to healthcare that they seem to be espousing now, all I seem to remember was constant complaints about wait times, almost criminal mismanagement of mb hydro, hundreds of millions of provincial dollars going towards that human rights museum boondoggle among other things.  
 
I say give the conservatives 5 or 10 years and if they muck it up as bad as the ndp has we can vote in liberals or greens worst case lol

The deficit interest is a little over $500 million I believe, the federal transfer payments have increased by almost $1 Billion, if NDP spending stayed the same the budget would be balanced. Pallister, Ford, Trump, Johnson, Scheer. They all play the fiscal responsibility card but nobody follows it. They all incorrectly blame it on previous governments.

"Three of six emergency rooms (ERs) in Winnipeg have been closed: Victoria Hospital in 2017, and Seven Oaks Hospital and Concordia Hospital in 2019. Each was converted to a 24/7 urgent care centre designed to treat non-life threatening injuries and illnesses."  
 
The point was $120 million was cut from healthcare and people have died as a direct result of those cuts.  
 
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/the-devastation-of-manitoba?fbclid=IwAR0RpGi488Er7OQaZTV_IpV9KKJJyvSN8IMj8ACi6nSk6a5GUh7MdC589jE

jonnie_66, in one post you say the conservatives don't follow up with fiscal promises to cut and the next post you admit they do and criticize them for making cuts, you can't have it both ways.

I think you're Confused. They are cutting services and have raised taxes for the less fortunate/middle class and then giving millions away in other areas. Still not balancing the budget even though the Liberals gave them $1 billion more than the NDP had in transfer payments. Things like this piss me off: "The province of Manitoba pledged up to $11.95 million in tax rebates for True North Square, a joint venture between companies owned by the richest family in Manitoba and the patriarch of the richest family in Canada. The PCs also wrote off an $82 million loan owed by the owners of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ IGF Stadium, which they had previously criticized the NDP for subsidizing.  
 
Pallister owns a $2 million, 9,000 square foot mansion in Winnipeg. He also owns a 3,400 square foot hillside vacation home in Costa Rica, which he spent 128 days at during his three-year premiership, and recently paid $8,000 in back taxes and penalties for after failing to have it reassessed and breaking property tax rules."

Conservatives win, most likely will get majority as well. Congrats to Len and Reg!