Greens allowed in televised debate
The Manitoba Green party’s efforts to get leader James Beddome into the televised debates on Friday have paid off.
Beddome will join provincial NDP leader Greg Selinger, Conservative leader Hugh McFayden and Liberal leader Jon Gerrard on Sept. 23. The debate will be broadcast on CTV, Global and CBC.
The party had been circulating a petition for Beddome to be included in the debate. Beddome had also stormed a recent leaders debate in Brandon, Man., where moderator Richard Cloutier of CJOB gave him some air time.
Tories pledge website for health care waitlist
The Progressive Conservatives Party of Manitoba have pledged to create a Manitoba patient advocate website, leader Hugh McFadyen announced last Sunday, reported the Winnipeg Free Press.
The website would allow Manitobans to look up health care wait times and other medical services. The estimated cost to create the website is pegged at $150,000.
McFadyen also promised a Conservative government would establish a senior’s health care hotline and add geriatric emergency nurses to Grace and Concordia hospitals.
Over $700M in Tory campaign promises, over $400M from NDP
Since the Manitoba election campaign kicked off on Sept. 6, the three major parties have each made hundreds of millions worth of campaign promises, reported the Winnipeg Sun.
So far, $744 million in pledges have been made by the Conservatives, with $150 million in tax relief and $590 million in government spending.
The NDP have committed over $420 million in various pledges, including $14.6 million to reduce small business taxes, with the largest pledge to hire 2,000 more nurses at an estimated cost of $74 million, and 200 more doctors and 50 more physician assistants for $77.3 million.
The Liberals have made over $192 million-worth of election promises, the largest being a $57.2 million post-secondary education aid package.
Aircraft bomb found in St. Boniface home
Winnipeg police had an unusual call Saturday afternoon, after a St. Boniface family found a practice aircraft bomb while cleaning the residences attic, reported CBC News.
The 46-centimetre cylindrical device was safely removed from the house. No indication was found as to why the device was there, and police are currently investigating the incident.
This is the third potentially explosive object police in Manitoba have dealt with in a month, including someone turning a grenade into an RCMP detachment and an incident in early September where a police station was shut down for two hours after an item was brought in, which officers deemed to be dangerous.
