The Manitoba Green Party has unveiled its plan to win over voters in the province as it tries to win a seat in the legislature for the first time.
The plan is highlighted by a $1.58 billion basic income plan.
Leader James Beddome says the plan will benefit nearly half of Manitobans in the form of a tax credit.
It will feature a guarantee based on family size, with additional amounts made available to people claiming the federal disability tax credit or the infirm dependants tax credit.
“It will lift 41 per cent of low income Manitoban adults and 61 per cent of Manitoban children above the poverty line, resulting in 35,000 fewer adults and 23,500 fewer children in poverty. For those adults still in poverty, it will increase their average income by 21 per cent, or $4,890.”
Beddome says that equates to an extra $4,000 for the average full-time minimum wage worker.
Other pillars of the platform include a pollution tax of $50 per tonne, which would increase by $10 every year after.
The Greens say that would result in a first-year revenue of $487 million, $342 million of which will be used to lower the first two Manitoba tax brackets from 10.8 per cent to 9.56 per cent and 12.75 per cent to 11.5 per cent.
“Our plan will create a simpler and more progressive tax system and will result in long-term savings to government.”
On Friday, Beddome said the party feels buoyed in the province by a rise in national support.
The Greens were a close second in the Wolseley constituency in the 2016 vote.
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