Dear Editor,
The NDP government is trying to sell Manitobans on a PST hike, saying it was all for infrastructure.
They dedicated a lot of time and effort, including their recent Throne Speech, into promoting that idea. But it is destined to fail.
Manitobans are getting a powerful sense of déjà vu. This is the same government that just a year ago promised when it raised the gas tax, that money would be used for infrastructure.
The NDP took $70 million more off the kitchen tables of Manitobans and put it on their cabinet table. Worse, they failed to spend one penny more on infrastructure.
In fact, this government has underspent its infrastructure budget every year for the past four years by an average of 27 percent each year.
This means the NDP government has taken almost $2 billion in taxes that were budgeted for and promised to go to infrastructure and redirected it.
They haven’t saved it. They didn’t use this money to reduce the deficit. They didn’t reduce their debt and they certainly didn’t reduce taxes.
This close to $2 billion was spent on other things. The NDP were over-budget in all but one department: Infrastructure and Transportation.
This government’s spending is out of control.
This premier and this government have lost its credibility when it comes to the promises it makes. They promised they wouldn’t hike taxes. They broke that promise.
Last year, they promised the new gas tax money would go into roads and broke that promise too. Now, they are promising the same thing again: Broken promises.
Integrity: Either you have it or you don’t.
Brian Pallister
Leader of the Official Opposition
