NDP promise to improve home care, Liberals talk about crime solutions

The Liberals were in Tyndall Park in the morning talking about solutions to crime. Liberal candidate Cindy Lamoureux said if elected, she would work to protect youth from gangs and recruiters, crack down on illicit drug sales, and create mental health and addictions crisis teams trained to de-escalate situations, assist in wellness checks, and deal with people in crisis. (Source: Gary Robson, CTV News)

With less than a month left until Manitobans go to the polls, the province’s Liberal and NDP candidates were busy on the campaign trail Sunday.

The Liberals were in Tyndall Park in the morning talking about solutions to crime. Liberal candidate Cindy Lamoureux said if elected, she would work to protect youth from gangs and recruiters and crack down on illicit drug sales. The party would also create mental health and addictions crisis teams trained to de-escalate situations, assist in wellness checks, and deal with people in crisis.

Lamoureux also said she would prevent a young person's past criminal record from hurting their future.

"If we treat one youth who may have made one mistake when they were 16 years old the way we are right now, they can have a criminal record that could follow them into their adulthood. I don't think that's fair on youth," said Lamoureux.

In St. Boniface, Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew was talking about home care and improvements to services for seniors in our province.

"Caring for seniors, this should be something that everyone in the province can agree on," Kinew said. "Especially coming out of the pandemic."

Kinew promised that if he becomes Manitoba's next premier, he would drastically improve the provincial home care system.

"We are going to take an immediate step to hire 100 new home care workers, by offering hiring incentives and mileage increases," said Kinew.

He said their plan will cut down on missed and cancelled home care appointments, and stop home care workers from having to rush off to their next client.

Kinew said 80,000 home care appointments were cancelled in the first 4 months of 2023.

He added that Manitoba's home care workers are not paid enough for vehicle mileage.

"And so you're paying - because of the rising cost of gas these days - more than you actually receive to travel from one appointment to the next," said Kinew.

PC leader Heather Stefanson had a quiet day after completing her tour of northern Manitoba in The Pas Saturday.

Manitobans elect a new provincial government on Oct. 3, 2023.