Manitoba NDP, Liberals spotlight French-language plans in final days of election

Two of Manitoba's main political parties highlighted their plans to help support the French language in the province on Tuesday.

The NDP says it will help support French education, culture, day care and health care if elected on Oct. 3.

Leader Wab Kinew said at a news conference that includes restoring the assistant deputy minister role in the Bureau de l'ducation franaise, a promise the party said would come with a $100,000 annual salary, and increasing funding for all levels of French-language education through its $20-million education budget.

Kinew made the announcement outside the St. Boniface Cathedral, flanked by members of Winnipeg's francophone community and St. Boniface NDP candidate Robert Loiselle.

"This announcement here today along with our great candidate and, you know, some of his team and members of the community is a moment for us to reflect on the important role that the francophone community and the Mtis people have played in creating the Manitoba that we know and love," Kinew said.

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He said the NDP would increase spending on French-language daycare spaces, develop a strategy to train and recruit more French teachers in partnership with l'Universit de Saint-Boniface and work with la Socit de la francophonie manitobaine and la Division scolaire franco-manitobaine to make investments based on their needs, like bolstering the number of French teachers and substitute teachers.

The party would also improve French service on the province's Info Sant health-care phone line, Kinew said, which would be paid for through its previous pledge to spend $500 million on health-care recruitment over four years.

He also reiterated his promise to help pay for a new entrance to the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre in Winnipeg.

Liberals tout French-language promises

Later Tuesday, the Manitoba Liberal Party released a version of its own full election platform that had been translated into French, highlighting its promises to re-establish the Bureau d'ducation franaise and the Association des municipalits bilingues du Manitoba with stable long-term funding and addressing the shortage in the French-language education sector.

The party's platform said it will also increase funding for the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre to $900,000 per year, ensure the education department adequately encompasses all French-language education servicesand improve funding for French-language education in Manitoba.