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Manitoba PCs: People with Disabilities are not a Priority to NDP

Sep 18, 2013

Following is the text from the PC's media release.


People with Disabilities are not a Priority to NDP

September 17, 2013

Failure to enhance then pass Accessibility for Manitobans Act shows NDP’s real commitment: Rowat

Manitobans with disabilities have been let down by the NDP government for its failure to include Bill 26 as a priority bill last session. The NDP had a chance to show it was committed to improve the lives of people with disabilities by reducing or eliminating barriers to accessibility. However, the government chose not to include this legislation when it decided to pass 10 bills last session.

“While Bill 26 is not perfect, we support it because it is a step in the right direction,” Critic for Persons with Disabilities Leanne Rowat said. “We wanted to see Bill 26 called for third reading and royal assent before last session ended. The NDP missed an opportunity to improve many lives.”

The NDP government failed to prioritize the issues that matter to Manitobans by not passing Bill 26 before spring session ended. The Progressive Conservative Party has provided a number of concrete suggestions that would support and improve the lives of vulnerable Manitobans including raising the shelter allowance for EIA recipients to 75 per cent of median market rents, and raising the basic personal exemption to $9,651.

This bill did not require the government to take steps to remove and prevent barriers to accessibility. However, it did enable the government to act to improve the lives of Manitobans, so it should have been advanced to third reading and given royal assent. There is still time to improve this bill and we encourage the government to support our amendments at the earliest opportunity.

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