COLUMN: Report from the Legislature – Paying more and getting less

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/09/2025 (188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Now that students are settling back into their classrooms, I want to wish them all a successful school year, filled with the opportunity for fun activities and learning. I would also like to wish all the teachers and EAs, principals, custodians, bus drivers, divisional staff, childcare workers and all those who work in education and early childhood learning within the Lac du Bonnet constituency a successful school year.

As the education critic for the Official Opposition my job is to make sure that the Manitoba NDP government follow through on the investments made by our previous PC government for schools and daycares. As well as hold them accountable for the promises they’ve made.

Our PC government strongly supported the education sector by investing 25 percent of all spending towards K-12 and early childhood learning. We committed to the building of 23 new schools, 14 of which were completed, and the rest were either under construction or in the design stages and ahead of schedule.

For families with young children, our PC government invested $76 million to implement $10 a day childcare, and increase childcare spaces. As of July 2023, a total investment of $120 million from both our PC government and the Government of Canada had been provided for two phases of the Ready-to-Move (RTM) Childcare Project to create 1,970 new childcare spaces in 25 rural and First Nations communities. In 2022 during phase one of the RTM Childcare project, our government announced the creation of nine new childcare facilities across the province, including 74 spaces in Whitemouth. In 2023 we announced the recipients for phase two of the RTM Childcare Project, which would create even more childcare spaces in rural Manitoba including 74 spaces in Tyndall. The RTM Childcare Project was later named Project of the Year in 2024 by the Project Management Institute (PMI) Manitoba, in recognition of excellence and performance in project management.

Also in 2023, as part of the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement our PC plan was to develop additional childcare spaces in schools and on school property in partnership with public school divisions. Under this school division stream we promised Sunrise School Division and the School District of Whiteshell with school daycares in Lac du Bonnet, Anola and Pinawa. Along with the approval of the federal government, all three daycares were passed through the Manitoba Treasury Board and later announced.

Unfortunately, under the Kinew NDP, plans to build the remaining schools and create more childcare spaces are either off the table or on serious pause. One thing we know that’s gone is the school tax rebate and the phase out of education property taxes. Instead, the NDP government have asked school divisions to raise your school taxes at the local level to fund our K-12 education system. Our PC plan would have seen homeowners and farmers free from paying school taxes by 2028.

I realize that many Manitobans consider it an investment when paying to better educate our youth. But I am also hearing that they are tired of paying more and getting less from this NDP government, and education is just one of many examples of their fiscal mismanagement.

Education will always be a priority of our PC caucus under the leadership of Obby Khan, and we look forward to putting the NDP to the task when the Manitoba Legislative Session resumes in October.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at wayne@wayneewasko.com, or call me at 204-268-3282. Also, you can follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @wayneewaskomla and friend me on Facebook.