Manitoba Liberal leader sees opportunity in 2018

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Published on Monday, February 19, 2018

By Eoin Devereux

Neepawa Banner & Press

2018 has started off on a relatively positive note for the Manitoba Liberal Party. Earlier this year, it was announced that the party had paid off its debt from the 2016 provincial election. They’ve also found themselves polling extremely well, as of late, in Winnipeg constituencies against both the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP. While these are steps in the right direction, there are still major challenges to be faced in both rural and northern Manitoba. The north historically votes “NDP orange’, while the rural region normally is a safe zone for the Tories. Manitoba Liberal Party leader Dougald Lamont remains optimistic they can do something about that, though he understands that can’t happen without a whole lot of work.

Introducing himself to Manitoba

Dougald Lamont took over as leader of the Manitoba Liberal party last October following a narrow eight vote victory over Burrows riding MLA Cindy Lamoureux. A relatively unknown commodity to many outside of the perimeter, one of the first orders of business for the 48-year-old was to hit the road and introduce himself to the public in all 57 Manitoba constituencies. 

On Friday, Feb. 9, Lamont arrived in Neepawa. Over the course of the afternoon, he visited with both potential voters in informal coffee chat type conversations and in more formal sit-downs with local municipal leaders. 

Over the course of speaking with people, Lamont noted that there were a few specific topics that were consistently mentioned. 

“Health care has been the big topic and that really has been the case in several of the communities I have visited over the course of this tour. People are concerned about losing access and want to see action on addressing the situation,” stated Lamont. “Housing, as well, especially here in Neepawa, has been brought up. The need for affordable housing across the province is something that has turned into an issue. I say that the three H’s, health, hydro and housing are something that are on everyone’s minds. Being able to afford housing is a big issue. An individual or a family should be able to afford decent accommodations. Manitoba is a bit better than other places in Canada, but it’s still something that cannot be ignored.”

What’s the outlook for Manitoba?

In order to improve the future outlook from health care and housing in Manitoba, money is needed. The question is where will that money come from, while still trying to balance the provincial budget. Lamont believes the current approach being used by the Pallister government  to ‘hack and slash’ is not the right one.

“This is something that I think the P.C. government is getting wrong, They’re hacking away without, what I believe, is any type of long term vision. The federal government recently gave the Pallister government a record amount on transfer payments of $200 million dollars, which is, I think, more than Pallister’s promise of a health care premium was going to be. [Pallister] has already announced that there will be a carbon tax. There’s going to be funding from cannabis taxes. He has $200 million in new transfer payments and the health care funding from the federal government is still going up. [Pallister] keeps saying it’s cut. It’s just not going up as fast. He’s crying poor and it’s just not true,” stated Lamont. 

“What we need to do, is have honesty in your accounting on how we’ll get back to balance. That is the sort of thing that will be looked upon favourably by credit rating agencies. Actually, one of the things we’ve said, is to have honestly in accounting with [Manitoba] Hydro. If we stopped dumping more and more debt onto Hydro, and get Hydro’s books safe, that completely changes the risk profile for Manitoba, [with credit rating agencies] because right now, it’s going in the wrong direction.”

Final thoughts

As he prepared to move on to next community, Lamont stressed that it’s important for the Liberal to continue listening to the people across the province and develop policies that work for everyone.

“I have to convince people that [the Manitoba Liberals] are an option. Show them that I’m up for the task, so I have to prove myself. Ultimately, whether you vote for me or not. Vote for the [Liberal Party], or not, we’re still fighting for you. Not everyone is going to vote for us, but we still want to sit down with those people, talk with them and hear their opinions and their concerns,” Lamont stressed. “The plan is not to simply work for Liberal voters, but for all Manitobans. That’s a bit of the problem right now in the legislature, and it has been for a while, where the interests of everyone are not being looked after. Let’s find the areas in which we have in common.”