Selinger, Bokhari square off in debate at WMCA

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This article was published 08/04/2016 (3780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NDP Leader Greg Selinger and Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari squared off in a relatively uneventful debate at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium on Thursday night.

Topics such as health care, infrastructure, the disproportionate number of First Nations people in prison and the provincial deficit dominated the debate — between jabs about who wasn’t there.

Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister didn’t attend the debate, which was hosted by The Brandon Sun and Westman Communications Group. He did take part in the Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s debate earlier in the day.

In front of a crowd of approximately 120 last night, the two party leaders fielded questions from three panellists — Sun reporter Jillian Austin, CKLQ news director Clay Young and Brandon University political science associate professor Kelly Saunders.

During a discussion about the deficit, moderator Kerry Auriat asked Selinger point blank: Who Manitobans can trust when it comes to the province’s finances?

“The ones that gave the numbers and that’s us,” Selinger said.

Last month, the NDP provided a fiscal update that showed the summary deficit is projected to spike to $773 million by year’s end —or $351 million higher than predicted in April 2015.

“The reason the numbers changed is because the economy had some struggles,” Selinger said, adding that most provincial governments in Canada didn’t meet their deficit targets this fiscal year.

More concerning, Selinger said, is that Pallister remains silent on his plan.

“That is by far the biggest risk to Manitobans,” Selinger said. “A person running for office, leading in the polls allegedly, saying he can’t give you an idea of what he is going to do when he gets into office.”

Bokhari said whichever party wins on April 19 will be in a difficult financial position, and it’s time to recognize who is being hurt the most by higher taxes and deficits under the NDP.

“Manitoba families, we know you’re struggling,” Bokhari said. “You’re struggling because your hydro is going up. You’re struggling because your food costs are going up. Poverty rates are increasing. Food bank use is increasing. You have seniors struggling. We have to bring it back down to people.”

One of the only heated exchanges between the two leaders came while discussing the ethics of who should be allowed to become a candidate.

The Manitoba Liberals came under fire after sexist social media comments surfaced from one of its former candidates.

NDP MLAs jumped on the comments and demanded the candidate, Jamie Hall, be removed. The Liberals severed ties with Hall over the social media posts.

At the same time, it was revealed NDP candidate Wab Kinew posted misogynistic comments on his social media. Selinger stood by Kinew.

Bokhari said the NDP created a double standard.

“It was your party that demanded that we remove Jamie Hall,” Bokhari barked at Selinger during the debate’s only fireworks. “It was your party that made noise about all the other candidates

and you chose to keep your star candidate.”

Bokhari, who is running against Kinew in Fort Rouge, said she didn’t flinch in the face of adversity. She said her party has made some mistakes, but she’s the only leader being honest with voters.

“Every single day you have that person — and we hear it at the door — you are owning those comments,” Bokhari told Selinger. “It takes leadership to stand up and say ‘I will not accept that … It doesn’t matter if it’s a star candidate or not. It’s a value system.”

Selinger said Kinew took responsibility for his comments and that the difference was Hall was “engaging in that behaviour while he was a candidate.”

“False,” Bokhari said interrupting the NDP leader.

Selinger said people can change and that Kinew has.

“One thing that I’ve learned is that none of us is perfect and those that think they are the most dangerous,” he said. “The most entitled (people), who never apologize for anything, never think that they can do anything wrong, never open to feedback, those are the ones that scare me the most.”

Both leaders promised to match City of Brandon capital funds for the Keystone Centre.

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