Let's Talk Manitoba, episode one. Winnipeg City Councillor Brian Manyes speaks with Kevin Klein about the 20-year saga of the North End Treatment plant and the polluting of Lake Winnipeg.

$500,000 for community centres with a re-elected PC Government and re-elected Kevin Klein. #mb23 #manitoba #mbpoli #kirkfieldpark

A comprehensive pledge of $10 million to strengthen support and services for women seeking refuge from the scourge of abuse. #MB23 #mbelection2023 #mbpoli

Manitoba Finance made a significant announcement today, revealing that the Progressive Conservative (PC) government has successfully balanced the budget for the current fiscal year. The news was shared by Kevin Klein, the PC candidate for Kirkfield Park, who emphasized the government's commitment to prioritizing investments in essential sectors like health care and education. According to Klein, the balanced budget was a result of a growing economy that led to increased government revenues. He highlighted the party's dedication to reinvesting these funds into crucial areas such as health care, education, roads, and social services. Klein criticized the spending plan proposed by Wab Kinew, leader of the opposing New Democratic Party (NDP), stating that Kinew's approach was based on false assumptions and would necessitate tax hikes to cover the proposed $3.3 billion in new spending. Klein contested Kinew's claim of having $500 million in "unallocated funds," clarifying that these funds were designated for purposes like recent labour agreements negotiated by the Manitoba government and were not available for the NDP's spending plan. He criticized the NDP's platform as being manufactured and disconnected from reality. "Our stable, experienced PC Team will continue putting Manitobans' needs first," affirmed Klein. He highlighted the PC government's achievements, including historic tax breaks, a record $100-million increase in education funding, and the allocation of the largest-ever healthcare budget amounting to $7.9 billion. Klein emphasized that the PC government's balanced budget and higher revenue from the growing economy set them apart from the NDP's proposals. With a surplus of $270 million, the PC government is committed to reinvesting these funds into key areas such as health care and education. The party plans to run modest deficits over the next two years while allocating necessary funds to priority sectors, with the goal of restoring the budget to balance by 2025. As the provincial election approaches on October 3rd, 2023, advanced polls have opened, setting the stage for a crucial political decision for Manitobans.

Kevin Klein, PC candidate for Kirkfield Park, said that those health-care projects—including upgrades to the Grace Hospital ICU, St. Boniface Emergency Room, and Concordia Operating Room, as well as an expansion to the Health Sciences Centre Bed Tower and Surgical Centre of Excellence, and redeveloping Portage Place—are all at risk if the NDP form government. The recruitment funding will also help ensure staff coverage at health-care facilities across Manitoba, including: the Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach, where a new $30-million surgical centre is underway; the Boundary Trails Health Centre in Winkler, which is currently undergoing a $100-million expansion; Brandon Regional Hospital, where work started earlier this year for $136-million upgrades along with the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre; the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, where our PC Team has made $23-million ER upgrades; Lakeshore General Hospital in Ashern, which is undergoing a $10.8-million expansion; the new $127-million Neepawa Hospital, which will be nearly four times the size of the existing Neepawa Health Centre; the new $455-million Portage Regional Health Centre in Portage la Prairie, which will be significantly larger than the existing Portage District General Hospital; the Selkirk Regional Health Centre, which is currently undergoing a $45.7-million expansion and renovation; the St. Anthony’s General Hospital in The Pas, where the community will also benefit from $39-million in funding that our PC Team invested in The Pas Primary Health Clinic nearby; and the Swan Valley Health Centre in Swan River, where our PC Team has recently invested to bring in a new CT scanner. All of these projects are at risk under an NDP government. “Wab Kinew has promised to build almost a dozen new medical facilities without committing to the existing projects underway, without strategic or clinical backing, and with absolutely no indication on how he plans to staff them,” Klein said. “Not only is the PC health capital plan fully costed, it’s already under way. “We know that health care wasn’t broken overnight and that it can’t be fixed overnight, no matter what other political parties say. With the new Health Care Recruitment Fund, PCs have a plan to add staffing capacity to the health-care system, whereas the NDP just have cynical, vote-buying promises—with no plan on how to staff all these new facilities, in the middle of a worldwide staffing crisis.” Klein added that the more than $3-billion health capital plan currently underway had the backing of clinical experts and health leadership. Kinew has made almost $3 billion in election promises already without committing to continue the investments, Klein said. “More than $1.5 billion in spending is on the books for HSC alone,” Klein said. “Wab simply can’t do it without cutting projects or raising your taxes.”

I will never forget this day. Many people know I have supported Homes for Heroes, a program that will eradicate veteran homelessness in Winnipeg. I have been fighting to bring this much-needed support to our community. I battled City Hall for years. I was honoured to join our PC Leader Heather Stefanson in committing to prioritizing the needs of veterans experiencing homelessness and affirming that a re-elected PC government would take significant steps to combat veteran homelessness and related issues in Manitoba.