Winnipeg can’t afford the Wasylycia-Leis tax and spend plan

Moody’s ties city’s negative outlook to NDP government on Broadway

Mayoral candidate Gord Steeves said the Moody’s Investors Service downgrade of the City of Winnipeg’s debt rating outlook shows how Winnipeg will be worse off with Judy Wasylycia-Leis as mayor. Moody’s indicated the outlook was downgraded because it is tied to debts racked up by the provincial NDP government and its inability to keep spending under control.

“The NDP’s record on taxing Manitobans is not defensible, and if Judy Wasylycia-Leis is elected mayor, you can be assured Winnipeggers will feel that tax pain once again,” Steeves said. “These tax increases will make it nearly impossible for Winnipeg to thrive. It needs to be stopped.”

Wasylycia-Leis has already promised a 12 percent property tax increase. However we can assume she will follow the provincial NDP government’s tax and spend policies. The links between Judy Wasylycia-Leis and the provincial NDP government responsible for record tax increases can no longer be denied. Peter Dalla-Vicenza, a senior policy analyst, has taken leave from his job in Premier Greg Selinger’s office to work on the Wasylycia-Leis campaign team. In other words, Selinger and Wasylycia-Leis are sharing the same staff.

The very people who imposed the largest tax increase on Winnipeggers since Wasylycia-Leis’ record tax increase in 1987 are now working to expand the NDP’s tax and spend regime to City Hall.

These policies could turn the city’s negative outlook into reality. It will cost more for the city to borrow money, which will mean Wasylycia-Leis will have to increase property taxes beyond the 12 percent she has already promised.

The warning signs are clear. Wasylycia-Leis will bring to City Hall an NDP government Winnipeggers can’t afford. She has raised taxes before. She has already said she will do it again.