Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew is promising to reopen emergency rooms and make significant investments in infrastructure while maintaining the current timeline to balance the budget.
Kinew released the party’s election platform Thursday morning in St. James.
The platform calls for an additional $29.5 million in health-care spending in 2020/2021, $43.4 million in 2021/2022, $34.9 million in 2022/2023 and $34.9 million in 2023/2024.
The money would help reopen ERs at Concordia and Seven Oaks Hospitals, adding acute care beds, and training and hiring nurses and nurse practitioners, according to the platform.
The NDP said investments in infrastructure would translate into increased revenue for the province.
The party said it will increase contributions from the top one per cent of earners in the province — those who earn more than $250, 000 each year.
The platform also outlines savings would be found through hiring fewer consultants, reducing health bureaucracy and reintegrating Efficiency Manitoba into Manitoba Hydro.
The party said if elected it would spend an additional $69.4 million in 2020/2021 to pay for its promises. The NDP said it would find savings of $72.3 million in that same year to help reduce the deficit.
