PCs Introduce Bills to Provide Voting Rights to Cottage Owners, Protect Property Owners from Trespassers Lawsuits
WINNIPEG — Manitoba PCs want to make sure Manitobans who own secondary properties, such as cottages, are not subject to taxation without representation when it comes to local school board elections.
Bill 223, The Municipal Councils and School Boards Elections Amendment Act, will allow all property owners, including cottage owners who are Canadian citizens over the age of 18, to vote in local school board elections where their secondary properties are located. Currently, these non-resident property owners are not allowed to vote, but are subject to school tax increases totaling hundreds and thousands of dollars.
“By ensuring everyone who pays school taxes has the right to vote in school board elections, we will ensure that there is accountability of school boards to those ratepayers along with the parents for how the money is spent and budgeted,” said Midland MLA Lauren Stone, PC Critic for Finance, who introduced Bill 223 today.
Last week, Stone also reintroduced legislation to bring transparency and accountability to the NDP budget approval process. Bill 211, The Budget Bill Public Accountability Act, would require the government to hold at least 10 hours of public committee hearings to ensure adequate public scrutiny of government expenditures and budget measures. This will ensure that the Minister of Finance, the government, and the Legislative Assembly are held publicly accountable for the decisions being made.
“The NDP rammed through their recent budget bill on the last day of session with no public consultation,” said Stone. “The NDP eliminated the indexation of income tax brackets and the Basic Personal Amount, which means every year Manitobans will face bracket creep as inflation eats away at their income.”
“The NDP also added taxes to cloud computing services such as data storage, website hosting, remote computer processing, and subscription-based software. This will be detrimental to consumers, gamers, and businesses who will now pay more for their software and subscriptions. All of this was done without any public consultation.”
Meanwhile, Interlake–Gimli MLA and Opposition House Leader Derek Johnson last week reintroduced legislation to protect property owners from unjustified lawsuits by criminals who are injured while trespassing. Bill 210, The Occupiers’ Liability Amendment Act, was previously introduced last session but passage was blocked by the NDP government.
“It was disappointing to see the NDP block a reasonable, common-sense bill that would have helped reduce the impact of crime on law-abiding Manitobans,” said Johnson. “Instead of standing with property owners and victims, they chose to shield criminals and revictimize the innocent. That’s why I’ve reintroduced this legislation, because Manitobans still deserve and need this protection.”
Johnson noted that support for the legislation has only grown since it was first brought forward.
-30-
For media inquiries, please contact PCCaucus_Media@leg.gov.mb.ca