Manitoba candidate says he was punched, kicked while out door-knocking
Attack happened in apartment building when canvassing for election, Liberal says
A candidate in the upcoming Manitoba provincial election says he had to call police after being attacked while door-knocking in a Winnipeg apartment building.
Jeffrey Anderson, who is running for the Liberals in the St. Vital constituency in south Winnipeg, said he was canvassing voters along with two supporters Monday afternoon when a man at one door started berating one of his colleagues.
The man started making threats and asked the Liberals why they were in the building, Anderson said. The man then reached into his pocket for something, said Anderson, who called 911.
“We were trying to get out of the floor but he was kind of blocking us, so there was no way to really physically get off the floor without actually being physical with him.”
Anderson said the man started talking about conspiracy theories then started punching and kicking him. The man’s mother got in on the action too, Anderson added, once the punches started flying.
“She lost it and she started ... slapping me in the face.”
Eventually the Liberals managed to get out of the building.
Winnipeg police confirmed Tuesday they investigated, but did not lay charges.
Anderson, who is 6-foot-4, said he wasn’t injured and asked that charges not be pursued.
He was back on the hustings Tuesday, standing beside Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont as the Liberals promised a guaranteed minimum income to lift people out of poverty.
The income would be somewhere near $18,000 a year for an individual, and would replace or top up welfare, depending on the recipient’s current income.
The Liberals, who had four of the 57 legislature seats when the election was called, also promised a public-works program for the jobless if they win the Sept. 10 election, similar to one launched by former U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression.
Lamont estimated the cost of his proposals at $700 million a year, but said it would save money by reducing demands in health care, child welfare and other areas.
“I know there will be questions about the cost of this to the public purse, but we also have to look at the costs of poverty and they are astronomical,” Lamont said.
A Liberal government would also raise Manitoba’s minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current $11.35.
Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister visited a movie set Tuesday and promised to increase the budget for Manitoba’s film and video tax credit by $25 million over four years — slightly more than $6 million a year.
The credit, which gives film companies a partial refund on money spent in the province, currently costs the government $31 million a year and has paid dividends, Pallister said. Pallister was standing inside a downtown Winnipeg arena made up to look like a United States basketball venue for a movie called Sudden Death 2.
“Like all industries, film production ebbs and flows, for sure. But we’re seeing a general direction in the upward (direction) ... and I think that can continue most certainly,” Pallister said.
NDP Leader Wab Kinew promised to create and fund 600 new child care spaces each year, with the eventual goal of eliminating wait lists and having fees set at $15 per day.
An NDP government would also ensure child care spaces are made available in all new public buildings, and focus on licensed, notfor-profit facilities.