We Asked the Candidates

The Green Party of Manitoba proposes broad consultations creating Citizen Assemblies to guide, from lived experience, effective policies for addressing top issues like chronic underfunding, insufficient staffing supports, the impacts of poverty and violence and immigration on our children and families. Crucial building upgrades for greening our public education system are overdue.  Social and environmental justice are our foundational Green policies, based on our values of health, ecology, fairness and care.

Fairness is a key value for the Green Party. We will research and ensure fairness in fund allocation, as children are neither the property of a culture or a family, needing the love and support of both.

The GPM will improve the funding of Public Education in order to ensure that high quality, diverse and inclusive education is delivered to all students in order to ensure it is the preferred education system in the province.

Children and youth are priorities for our Green reworking of funding priorities. Reducing subsidies to carbon polluters will allow the reallocation of billions of dollars to adequately fund public education.

• We need to set targets for maximum class size across the province and then ensure the funding is there to support it.
• Shared purchasing of supplies across the province to reduce costs.

Asking teachers what is needed is exactly what the GPM will do, hold Citizen Assemblies purposed to base action plans on the lived experience of those directly involved.

• Max classroom sizes
• Use of Education Assistants where appropriate.
• Support for special needs students to reduce the burden on classroom teachers.

Our French heritage and diversity is of such strength it must be honoured and preserved such that what worked with the BEF, must be restored and even improved.

We will commit to ensuring the francophone ADM leads the BEF and that the individual is a member of the francophone community within Manitoba. We will look to increase and maintain regular dialogue so that issues of the francophone community are heard on a regular basis and feedback can be given regarding issues and concerns. 

We will work with you to strengthen the guidelines and the budgets, so a false economy won’t undermine the teaching profession. Our children’s education requires excellence at every level of contribution.

We  ensure we collaboratively develop a structure of teachers and education assistants that is respectful of the teaching profession and provides true assistance and makes the teacher’s job of delivering education easier.

We GPM members support a guaranteed Basic Income, that is needs based also encouraging formal education and work contracts. We also need to address the shortage of psychologists and mental health family  and peer support workers and eliminate wait times for all stress and mental health supports students and education staff require.

We need to provide more mental health support and support for special needs students. It is important that all students have access to the support they need while also reducing the burden on classroom teachers.

The GPM is against the banning of books. We are in favour of inclusive teaching and ensuring students receive teaching that is inclusive of different race and gender perspectives. 

We need to ensure that there is a fair base funding model that takes into consideration location (rural vs urban) and size (30,000 vs 1,000). There needs to be enough flexibility in the funding model that takes into consideration the different needs.

All children, their families and all staff feeling inspired and curious about learning and teaching about our diversity, cultures and world, with their basic needs and cultural heritage, respected.

The GPM wants our teachers to know we believe our children are our future! We need to educate them and ourselves with life long learning systems that inspire compassion and curiosity.

We can only do this by properly funding and supporting our teachers.

An NDP government will restore the relationship with front line educators who have been disrespected and derided as a ‘vocal minority’ by Heather Stefanson’s PCs. We are committed to investing in public education in our province and to introducing a Universal School Nutrition Program to ensure no child goes to school hungry while also ensuring there are small class sizes for our youngest learners so they get the one-on-one time they need. We will also increase supports for students with more educators in the classroom, including more EAs. Finally, we are dedicated to ensuring there is predictable, stable and equitable funding for our public education system after the years of cuts by Brian Pallister and Heather Stefanson. We know what the funding model for education will be if the PCs are elected again – millions in cuts to schools and classrooms across the province.

Public Education is a foundational value in our society and one of the best ways we have to live up to the phrase ‘every child matters’. An NDP government will ensure that the needs of the public education system in Manitoba are properly addressed. We need stronger and more predictable investments in public education with an emphasis on the value that our education system offers to all Manitobans. We are committed to protecting the integrity of the public education system.

Under Heather Stefanson’s PC government, it’s clear chronic underfunding has led to fewer teachers, fewer educational assistants, and fewer clinicians in the classroom. It’s undermining our public education system. The Manitoba NDP is committed to bringing in small class sizes for our youngest learners and to hiring more educational assistants in the classroom. We will support public education properly with a stable and predictable commitment of funding that recognizes enrolment growth in our schools.

We know that teachers are committed to offering the highest quality of learning possible. But when teachers are overworked or are not supported by government, burnout is all too common. We know one important area that can be addressed is supporting students with a universal nutrition program so they can better concentrate on learning in the classroom. This will help improve learning conditions for students and working conditions for teachers. And we know supporting teachers with smaller class sizes for our youngest learners and more educational assistants in the classroom will be a direct help for all educators. Supporting schools to support their front-line educators needs to be a priority again after years of disrespect by the Stefanson PC Party and their cuts to the services teachers and students count on. The Manitoba NDP will return the voice of educators back into the department of education. We are very proud to be the party of teachers with eight educators who have put their name forward to run for the Manitoba NDP this year.

Without warning or consultation, the BEF was cut by the PCs nearly 7 years ago. It damaged French language education in our province. Heather Stefanson’s PCs made this cut and have never reversed it. An NDP government will reverse the cuts that were made to the Bureau de l’éducation francaise (BEF) and will restore the Assistant Deputy Minister position so that the needs of Manitoba’s French language students and educators are properly heard in the department of education. On va restaurer une partie du département de l’éducation où les éducateurs et éducatrices francophones peuvent travailler en français.

We know the pandemic revealed many challenges in our education system. Addressing the shortage of qualified educators is an important priority of an NDP government so that students can have access to the best education possible. We will collaborate with all education partners including the Manitoba Teachers Society to ensure the best practices and standards are upheld.

We know the Stefanson PC government has refused to act to address child poverty in schools for the past seven years. In fact, one of their MLAs called the idea of a universal nutrition program for kids a ‘bad idea’. We believe one significant and overdue way to address the impact of poverty on learning is the creation of a universal nutrition program in schools across our province. It will help students learn who would otherwise go to school hungry. This will be part of investments that also bring more support workers into the classroom as well as more mental health workers into schools, building on our commitment to hire 100 mental health workers to help address social challenges.

An NDP government will honour in spirit and actions the mission statement of the Department of Education: “The goal of public schools in an inclusive society is to create environments, structures, and programs where all educators, learners, and their families feel that they belong and are welcomed. This sense of belonging is an essential step in ensuring our schools respond appropriately to the rich diversity that is present in our schools and in our community”. We reject book bans and have called on the PC Party to do so as well. We know schools should be safe spaces for students and that students, staff, and communities need the active support of government in making this a reality.

Regardless of where a student lives, every Manitoban child deserves the best possible education. An NDP government would work with rural and remote communities and school divisions, helping them support the services they need and then ensuring the funding is in place to offer those services to students.

The goal of a public education system is to give every child the opportunity to learn and be able to live independently in society. Success is achieved when students are able to learn well, to thrive, and when front line educators are respected and supported.

An NDP government believes high-quality public education lays the foundation for individuals and societies to thrive. Public schools must be safe environments, for students and teachers, so that all students can thrive and learn. Public schools must be sensitive to the needs of a diverse community. An NDP government will ensure our public schools are properly funded so they can meet the needs of students today, attract highly qualified teachers, and grow to meet the needs of the future. We stopped bill 64 with you because we believe in educators, families and students. We are eager to take a new approach to making public education better in Manitoba today.

As Manitoba Liberals, we recognize that education is one of society’s great levellers.

We want to ensure that every student has the support they need to reach their full potential, and that teachers and EAs all have the tools and resources they need to make sure that happens.

For 80% of students in Manitoba’s Public School System, they are performing as well as or better than national standards. Our public schools work and do a great job in terms of academic performance and vocational training. The challenge is for the remaining 20% of students who struggle, often because they are living in poverty with their families, even when both parents are working. It’s also difficult for students who learn differently, especially if they have undiagnosed learning or physical disabilities – including hearing, eyesight, or dyslexia.

Our first priority is ensuring adequate and stable funding to make sure the system has resourcesto support all students. To help families with the cost of living and ensure that no child ever starts the school day hungry, we will implement a universal K-12 nutrition program. We will also introduce screening for disabilities and learning differences to ensure that each child has access to learning.

We are committed to ensuring stable, equitable funding for Manitoba’s public education system to ensure quality, public education everywhere in the province of Manitoba.

Manitoba Liberals have a long standing and proud commitment to public education in the province dating back to the establishment of compulsory public education in the province under the Liberal Government of T.C. Norris, which simultaneously ended child labour in our province.

In 2020, Manitoba Liberals were the first and only party to raise concerns when then-Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen participated in an online global homeschooling conference, with participants from Russia, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and the U.S., including U.S. education Secretary Betsy DeVos. During that presentation, the Education Minister predicted that over half of children in Manitoba could be homeschooled in the future.

Manitoba Liberals respect the right of private Independent Schools. As it stands, Independent Schools under the PC government have sometimes received higher funding increases than the public school system, which should not happen.

As a condition of receiving public funding, Independent Schools must meet or exceed the standards of public schools, and provinces have obligations to abide by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Manitoba Human Rights Codes. That is the law of the land. Governments cannot discriminate with their dollars.

We agree that independent schools should also be eligible for support. The primary focus of funding should be on having a high-quality public school system that ensures every student fulfills their potential.

The PC’s approach to funding has left so many school divisions scrambling to ensure that staffing, programming, and various costs are keeping pace with inflation.

Manitoba Liberals are committed to being fiscally responsible while making essential investments in children, education, and the future of our province.

It’s been said that if you want a guaranteed return on investment, put it into education. Education is about more than just a few years’ worth of learning – it has lifelong benefits for students and for society.

Manitoba’s total Federal transfers have increased by $3.5-billion to over $7-billion – over 100% since the PCs were first elected in 2016. Much of that funding has not gone to services. The increase in the last year alone is over $1-billion, or 16.8%. Despite these increases some school divisions only received 2% increases. Many school divisions have resorted to laying off staff, cutting programming, and running deficits. This is not acceptable.

In 2023 alone, the PCs will borrow more than $500-million, adding to our deficit and debt, in order to borrow to pay for unfunded property tax cuts. The burden for repaying this debt is being shifted off the people getting the cheques to the rest of Manitobans. In many cases, the cheques themselves are being sent to corporations and individuals from outside Manitoba, so there is no economic benefit to the province whatsoever. After months of opposing these rebates, the NDP have now caved in and are doubling down on the Pallister/Stefanson PCs rebates.

The only change the NDP are making to the PCs decision to keep borrowing a half-billion dollars a year to send money to some of the wealthiest people in Canada, and the world, is that instead of cheques they are going to use direct deposit.

Manitoba Liberals reverse the rebate by 80%, and require pipelines, railroads and other commercial landowners to pay. This will increase revenues by approximately $400-million – protecting low-income households and seniors on fixed incomes.

We will restore the right of democratically elected school boards to apply surtaxes in consultation with voters to ensure that schools don’t suffer neglect and underfunding as they have under other parties.

Manitoba Liberals believe in equitable funding so that schools with greater needs are supported adequately. Schools often deliver and pay for programs or services that are separate from education – like mental health and social work. No school should feel like they are stretching their resources to deliver these programs.

A Manitoba Liberal government will apply this principle towards our public education system to ensure that all school divisions are properly supported so that no student falls through the cracks.

Manitoba Liberals acknowledge the extraordinary work of teachers, principals, school divisions, and the entire public school system for their incredible work during the pandemic. While other systems broke, education kept going and kept students safe when the provincial government consistently failed to.

Retention is critically important because unless we address the issues that are driving people to leave, we won’t be able to keep the new people we hire.

First, we will commit to long-term, stable funding for schools. We need to ensure that conditions remain favourable for teachers to enter the public education system. We have been losing qualified educators to other provinces, and in many cases credential recognition has become overly difficult or a barrier to access for internationally trained educators to become certified in Manitoba. Manitoba Liberals are committed to working with all education stakeholders to look at ways of removing barriers to certification for Internationally Educated Teachers. We will ensure that the certification process continues to uphold a standard of quality that all students deserve and does not compromise the quality of public education in Manitoba.

Furthermore, we will look at innovative ways to attract and retain educators based on the needs of school divisions. We will give school divisions greater autonomy with the ability to enact bonus programs like the one in Frontier School Division. We are committed to ensuring that all teachers receive adequate pay and benefits and support for mental health, workplace stress, and burnout.

The Manitoba Liberal Party is committed to restoring and expanding the BEF and ensuring the ADM is recruited with the advice and consultation of the Francophone community in Manitoba.

2023 is the 50th anniversary of École Sacré Coeur becoming the first French Immersion school to become part of the public school system in Manitoba, where Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont attended from kindergarten to grade 6.

Today, the need for French language education leadership in the Government of Manitoba is much greater that 50 years ago. Over 50% of children in the K-12 public school system are taking French education, and we have an ongoing need for French language teachers and services.

In Manitoba, speaking French is not an accommodation: it is a fundamental right. Over its seven years in government, various funding streams for French services in Manitoba have been cut under the PCs. The province eliminated the ADM position from Manitoba Education in 2017.

A Manitoba Liberal government will reverse years of harmful policies that the Stefanson PC’s inflicted on French education starting by the restoration of leadership of the Bureau de l’education francaise with an Assistant Deputy Minister. We commit to strengthening both BEF and the Association of Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities and CDEM with proper long-term funding.

Individuals who have worked in or received a French education in Manitoba are well positioned to understand and respond to the unique challenges faced by French educators and future opportunities of Francophones in the province. That is why it is a priority for Manitoba Liberals to ensure that a French speaker, with roots in French education in Manitoba be prioritized for the Assistant Deputy Minister education for BEF.

Le Parti libéral du Manitoba s’engage à rétablir et à élargir le BEF et à veiller à ce que le SMA soit recruté avec l’avis et la consultation de la communauté francophone du Manitoba.

2023 est le 50e anniversaire de l’École Sacré Coeur, première école d’immersion française à faire partie du système scolaire public du Manitoba, où le chef libéral du Manitoba, Dougald Lamont, a fréquenté l’école de la maternelle à la 6e année.

Aujourd’hui, le besoin de leadership en matière d’éducation en langue française au sein du gouvernement du Manitoba est beaucoup plus grand qu’il y a 50 ans. Plus de 50 % des enfants du système scolaire public de la maternelle à la 12e année suivent un enseignement en français, et nous avons un besoin constant d’enseignants et de services en français.

Au Manitoba, parler français n’est pas un accommodement : c’est un droit fondamental. Au cours de ses sept années au pouvoir, le Parti progressiste-conservateur a réduit diverses sources de financement pour les services en français au Manitoba. La province a éliminé le poste de SMA du ministère de l’Éducation du Manitoba en 2017.

Un gouvernement libéral manitobain renversera des années de politiques néfastes que les PC de Stefanson ont infligées à l’éducation française, en commençant par le rétablissement de la direction du Bureau de l’éducation française avec un sous-ministre adjoint. Nous nous engageons à renforcer le BEF, l’Association des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba et le CDEM en leur accordant un financement adéquat à long terme.

Les personnes qui ont travaillé ou reçu une éducation française au Manitoba sont bien placées pour comprendre et répondre aux défis uniques auxquels sont confrontés les éducateurs français et aux opportunités futures des francophones de la province. C’est pourquoi il est prioritaire pour les libéraux du Manitoba de s’assurer qu’un francophone, ayant des racines dans l’éducation française au Manitoba, soit prioritaire pour le poste de sous ministre adjoint à l’éducation pour les municipalités bilingues du Manitoba.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, Manitoba Liberals believe that it is critical to rebuild a stronger, more stable and resilient system. That means focusing on long-term stability, not temporary measures.

Sometimes in a crisis, governments invest in strengthening systems, and they actually emerge stronger – but not the PCs, who spent the pandemic cutting corners, and expecting people to more with less.

Manitoba Liberals will restore guidelines around the use of non-certified teachers in classrooms. In addition to making conditions more favourable for prospective students looking to get an education degree, we can look at working with certain organizations such as the Retired Teachers’ Association of Manitoba for temporary substitute opportunities. More bridging opportunities can be created for internationally trained educators working to have their credentials certified in the province.

We will make sure that Manitoba continues to increase its number of educators while ensuring that certification requirements are not compromised.

As a bedrock principle of our party, Manitoba Liberals believe in the dignity and value of every human being and that the obligation and duty of government is to govern for all.

To address student well-being, we support the full screening of children for disabilities that might affect their learning – eyesight, hearing and cognitive tests, will be used to ensure interventions and supports are put in place to address and overcome deficits as soon as possible.

We are committed to a full suite of measures to address poverty in Manitoba – reducing costs to make life more affordable, while investing in Manitoba jobs and growth, including better social assistance, all with the goal of lifting people out of poverty – and out of crisis.

Over 70% of the people who are homeless in Winnipeg are Indigenous, and over 50% were in the provincial child welfare system. Under the PCs and the NDP, over 11,000 children were in CFS, and their federal benefits were seized as well.

That includes:

• A universal K-12 nutrition program to lower grocery bills and ensure that no student in Manitoba starts the school day hungry.
• “Same Day Housing” to address homelessness, and treating Homelessness as an Act of Reconciliation. We have committed to a program of ensuring people are housed immediately – with supportive housing when needed – to get people back on their feet. Currently, under the PCs, you have to be chronically homeless for six months before you can be housed. The NDP have committed to a solution eight years from now.
• New tools to help people and families reduce their debts.
• Ending “welfare” as we know it, starting with a guaranteed minimum income for seniors over 60 and for people with disabilities.

For a generation at least, Manitoba has had some of the worst child and family poverty in Canada. The fact that it is so much worse in Canada tells us that it is a provincial problem, not a federal one – and it is due directly to decades of provincial policies on justice, social assistance and child welfare, which drives people into forced poverty, and keeps them there.

Our current EIA system is basically the same as it was in 1986. In 1992, a PC government rolled EIA rates back to 1986 levels and froze them there. In 17 years of majority government, the NDP left them untouched. In 2012, Manitoba had the lowest social assistance rates, it was determined that Manitoba was the only province in Canada where single mothers’ incomes had dropped since 1981.

Instead, both parties have pursued policies that are designed to “correct” or punish people living in poverty. Manitoba has twice the national incarceration rate, with the vast majority being Indigenous.

Manitoba Liberals believe that when it comes to education, we can’t take any shortcuts for the wellbeing of our children. Over its seven years in government, the Pallister/Stefanson PC’s have only seen education as a cost and have looked for numerous ways to cut programs and services. This is the wrong approach.

Investments in people pay back.

There is a critically important aspect to this debate. Book banning is more than just censorship – it is an assault on the basic values of freedom of speech and democracy. That is what we are standing for when we oppose book banning.

We need to take a powerful stand to explain just why the people seeking to ban books are in the wrong. Why they are wrong on the evidence, wrong politically, morally: what they are doing is hatemongering.

First, let’s be very clear about where we all stand. We stand with the victims of crime and we utterly condemn criminal abuses and exploitation of all human beings, children and adults alike. We all agree, there are some materials that are inappropriate. These are not library books – they are not part of any school curriculum. Age appropriate books about human biology and reproduction are a reasonable resource to have in public schools. Admitting that there are people in the world who are not straight is a reality of life.

Where these individuals pushing for book bans are wrong, and are a threat to reason, the law and democracy, is they are making horrific false accusations of criminal activity, that have no basis whatsoever. These accusations are so incendiary that if believed, they could ruin lives, reputations and careers.

Liberal democracy means protecting freedom, free expression and human dignity. It also means defending a shared reality, evidence and truths we can all agree on – including the law. Freedom of speech is fundamentally about defending and attacking ideas, not people. It is about people being able to speak truth to power without fear of reprisal. It does not include falsely accusing teachers and librarians of criminal acts because the accuser does not understand or has been deliberately misled about the way the law works in Canada.

Manitoba Liberals were the first to stand up and call out the dangers of the book ban in Brandon. It has to be said that while these remarks were clearly discriminatory, they are also deeply false and made horrific accusations based on conspiracy theories and a total misunderstanding of the law.

Furthermore, there are instances of students who have been able to report their own abuse because when they read books like this, they realize it is something they can speak about, when they have been told to stay silent.

Manitoba Liberals are committed to equitable funding to ensure a level playing field and equal opportunity for all students in Manitoba. We will ensure that Manitoba’s equalization formula ensures comparable services for outcomes across the province.

The reason why the PC’s funding announcement as part of Budget 2023 was so inadequate was because many school divisions with pressing needs simply did not receive the necessary increases to their budget that they needed. This meant that they had to lay people off, cut specialized programming, and run deficits.

It has been proven that education outcomes drastically improve when funding becomes equalized for schools that need it. In 2010, an experimental agreement was reached between multiple levels of government to provide the same level of funding to Waywayseecapo, an onreserve school as nearby provincial schools. In what was a drastic turnaround, grades, literacy, and overall student wellbeing improved.

We have models of success that are proven to work. We need to leverage them to produce positive results for educators and students alike.

Education is fundamentally about students. We want to see a K-12 system that ensures students are prepared for life and learning to the best of their capacity – literacy, numeracy, and skills for work.

We want a rich and varied educational experience for students, and to make sure that every student is accommodated. For staff, we want a school system that is responsive and can adapt to address problems and challenges.

Manitoba Liberals recognize that a successful public education system means ensuring that all students, no matter where they live and go to school, have the same high-quality learning available to them, right across the province. That every student in Manitoba grows up to reach their full potential. This includes students with learning disabilities.

We have a roadmap for what works in our province. We know that equity matters and that education funding is not a ‘cost’ but a needed investment.

Manitoba Liberals have demonstrated the strongest possible commitment to public education in Manitoba, through our values and our work. We have walked the talk. We have continually advocated for children and students as well as teachers and staff. During the pandemic, when the PCs brought in Bill 64, we were the first party to create lawn signs – fully two weeks before anyone else – in order to mount the successful public campaign.

Educators in Manitoba want and need a government that they can trust to help support their efforts in providing all the necessary resources for a high-quality educational experience. After seven years of chaotic mismanagement and underfunding under the PCs, we have heard loud and clear that educators in our province want a return to stability and a healing of our education system.

In order to rebuild trust in a damaged system, we want and need to set up an ongoing collaborative exchange between educators and policy makers.

We want our ideas and policies to work. We want to be able to evaluate whether proposed new ideas and innovations will be effective, and if they do, how can we work with educators and school divisions to best implement them. Educators know better than anyone what is in the best interest of our students.

Manitoba Liberals are committed to ensuring that educators are equal partners and collaborators to determine any policy changes to our education system. What is best for our students, is best for our province.

Our PC Party’s top priorities for improving public education stem from our government’s K- 12 commission that is rooted in improving student success:

• Improving Literacy outcomes
• Improving Numeracy outcomes
• Improving Indigenous Education ad
• Enhancing Parental Rights to inform them better so they can make decisions on behalf of their children, because stronger families equal stronger students.

For the 2023/24 school year, our PC government provided the largest funding increase to the public school in the last 40 years of $100M.

We are committed to strengthening Public Education in Manitoba. Our current Education Minister is a former public school teacher of over 17 years, and is a strong advocate for the sector.

In this school year alone, our government has provided the largest increase in the past 40 years of $100M.

We also have undertaken the work of developing a new education funding model – something the sector has been asking for over 20 years.

This new funding model is being consulted with educators and in collaboration with them. It will have built-in transition funding to help school divisions receive sustainable funding while transitioning to this new model. The new model will ensure school divisions will receive equitable funding, so that no matter where you live, everyone has the same access to a great education in Manitoba. We believe that property value should not be the key factor in determining how Schools are funded.

• Through Safe and Caring Schools Policy Directives to support effective responses to student concerns.
• Through targeted funding for strengthening student support, as well as presence and engagement included in the 23/24 school year funding.
• Through increasing access to support for teachers, like the Early Years Assessment, Online Learning Resources, Clinical Assessment tools.
• Through working with Labour immigration and School Divisions on responding to safety and health concerns.
• Through the School leadership framework to enhance and strengthen leadership effectiveness as identified as a key imperative in the Commission.
• And through growing our economy and making Manitoba more affordable to make our province a more attractive place to live and work.

The Bureau de l’éducation Française (BEF), which is of paramount importance for students in Francophone schools and students in immersion schools, will be strengthened.

Our government will continue to promote a holistic and whole-of-government approach to French education, by working more from a continuum perspective bringing together all French-language education services, from early childhood to post-secondary and continuing education.

Access to education in French is adequately funded so that all parents can choose to send their children to a Francophone school or an immersion school, as the case may be. Our government further streamlined the processes related to the granting of subsidies for early childhood and opened more places in French-language daycares, which will also increase their capacity to welcome French-speaking youth.

Our government will continue financially supporting the development plan of the Université de Saint-Boniface so that it can recruit, welcome and train an increased number of French-speaking students.

Having certified teachers is a priority. We are examining short-term and long-term strategies to improve the certification process and working with MASS, MSBA and MTS, with consultations having started in June 2023.

We added Bachelor of Education seats and we have worked with several post-secondary institutions on innovative models for teacher education.

Our government introduced a French language recruitment strategy – something that should have been done 20 years ago.

Our government is committed to working with school divisions to recruit and retain certified teachers.

We believe that early intervention is key to supporting students and an early years assessment will help identify students with higher needs thrive in the classroom. Our PC government also commissioned a poverty and education task force that gave recommendations that we are committing to act on. The first is an equitable school-based nutrition program.

We are implementing the Early Years Assessment Tool with an investment of $1M over three years.

We also contracted with The Learning Bar for three years, to implement the evaluation used in the Kindergarten year to provide real-time data to classroom teachers to assess student learning needs.

Our government has released an RFP to review in-school meal programs across the province to review best practices across the Province and create a made-in-Manitoba approach to implement an equity-based school-based nutrition program, and we currently provide meals in an equitable way to over 40,000 students.

Our government does not ban library materials. We believe in a vision where all Manitobans succeed, no matter where they live, their background, or their individual circumstances.

We will continue supporting and promoting the well-being of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people and their families.

Our government developed a policy directive, Supporting Transgender and Gender Diverse Students in Manitoba Schools (2017), www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/docs/support/transgender/index.html.

Through consultation and collaboration, the new funding model will ensure equity among all 38 School Divisions.

We know rural School Divisions have higher transportation costs than urban divisions, so we are working and consulting with rural school divisions to ensure they receive equitable transportation funding as well.

Under our government, we will see student success for all. We will strive for all students to reach their full potential.

Through our K-12 Action plan, we will make sure that Manitoba Students are no longer last in the country when it comes to reading, science, and Math – like they were for 17 years under the NDP.

We want to see more Manitoba students graduate high school, particularly focusing on helping Indigenous students achieve success. Our government introduced Mamahtawisiwin: The Wonder we are Born with.

We saw the need to introduce an Indigenous policy framework, as well as the Elders and Knowledge Keepers program, so that teachers of Indigenous students would have the knowledge and cultural support available to them in order to help their students succeed in the classroom.

We know that when teachers are in the classroom, they put on all sorts of hats to help their students fulfill their full potential. We want them to know that we will ensure they are supported, and that families are supported, to ensure parents and caregivers are more engaged.

Our PC government will continue to give the Education system historic levels of funding and ensure support for teachers.

Strengthening Manitoba families will in turn make stronger students, and ease the burden on Teachers in the classroom. Our party is the only party that has a plan to grow our economy and put more money in Manitobans’ pockets.