Over the course of the summer, our Executive Director Margo Powell met with 3 political parties to share our critical issues and hopes in working with the next elected government.
Liberal Party of Manitoba: met with Leader Dougald Lamont, MLA Jon Gerrard and Shandi Strong.
New Democratic Party: met with Leader Wab Kinew and one of his assistants
Progressive Conservatives: met with MLA Rochelle Squires, current Minister of Families.
Three key points were focused on in the meetings:
- an ask for their party to commit to a 3 year plan to raise funding for wages to $21, $23 and $25 per hour for direct support staff, along with a plan to address compression.
- an ask to commit to the implementation of a 40 hour, standardized training to improve the base qualifications for direct support staff. The aim would be to implement this is a way that strengths the capacity of our sector; the intent is not to further destabilize organizations.
- an ask to address the critical shortage of overall funding compared to drastic cost of living increases: 33%+ over the past 23 years.
Following these meetings each of those parties attended the Great Debate. Commitments were made only in the area of wages. You can view Party Responses to the 5 issues as well as individual candidate responses on the Disability Matters Vote website.
Remember to get out and vote on October 3 and ensure you support anyone in your life who may need support to excercise this democratic right.