WINNIPEG — Manitoba Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew says he will improve health care, keep energy rates low and balance the budget if he becomes premier.

But at the end of the party’s annual convention this weekend, Kinew said he will only reveal his plans for doing so closer to the election slated for next October.

Manitoba has been running deficits since 2009, with the exception of a small surplus the year before the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Kinew says the NDP will show a fully costed platform during the election campaign and it will outline a path to balancing the budget.

He also says an NDP government would keep Manitoba Hydro rates affordable, but won’t commit yet to a specific maximum rate increase.

Paul Thomas, a political studies professor at the University of Manitoba, says the NDP is not likely to reveal its detailed plans now, given they are leading in opinion polls heading into the election year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2022

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press