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Campaigning Begins in Manitoba Election as Parliament Is Dissolved

Campaigning Begins in Manitoba Election as Parliament Is Dissolved

(Bloomberg) -- Campaigning has officially begun for Manitoba’s Sept. 10 election after the government of the Canadian province dissolved parliament on Monday.

Premier Brian Pallister kicked off the campaign after receiving permission from Lieutenant Governor Janice Filmon to dissolve the current session of government.

Pallister, a former insurance company executive, is looking to take advantage of a strong lead in the polls for his Progressive Conservative Party over the rival Manitoba New Democratic Party, which ruled the central Canadian province for almost 17 years before Pallister’s victory in 2016.

The premier has promised broad provincial sales tax cuts and announced a three-point plan to address opiod and other drug problems in the province. He claims to have fulfilled all of his campaign promises from 2016.

Pallister’s main opponent is NDP leader Wab Kinew, a former CBC journalist. Kinew is running on a platform of raising taxes for people earning more than C$250,000 ($188,000) a year, boosting the minimum wage to C$15 an hour and re-opening some of the province’s closed emergency rooms. As part of his plan to find savings, Kinew has also said he would end the province’s social investment bond program.

Manitoba Liberal leader and former political adviser Dougald Lamont’s promises include merging all health authorities into one and appointing an independent commission to review Manitoba’s tax system.

Manitoba Green Party leader and lawyer James Beddome is running on a platform of raising the carbon tax to C$50 per tonne in 2020 and then C$10 every year after, and free public transit. The Green Party has never won a seat in the Manitoba legislature.

Pallister had previously announced the date for the election and put in place a 90-day blackout period on advertising. The chosen date falls almost a full year before the mandated election date of Oct. 6 and just over a month before the federal election on Oct. 21.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ashley Robinson in Winnipeg (Non BLP Loc) at arobinson193@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Thorpe, David Scanlan

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