Manitoba Liberals once again promise to help get businesses off ground

Manitoba's Liberals are once again promising to help businesses get off the ground if party leaderDougald Lamont is electedpremier this fall.

Lamont pledged Friday to create a business development bank that would offer loans to businesses and make equity investments in new enterprises.

It's a repeat of a promise he made in 2019, during the last provincial election campaign, at which point he said the bank would require $78 million from the province.

He now says Manitoba would have to set aside $100 million to set up an entirely non-partisan development bank.

"Whether or not your business can get investment should never, ever depend on your political stripe or whether you happen to live in the right constituency," Lamont said Friday at Tach Dock, along the Red River in Winnipeg's St. Boniface neighbourhood.

"We will set this bank up to be transparent, have oversight, and have board members who are selected after being interviewed for their qualifications."

Lamont said Alberta and North Dakota have their own business development banks.

Since Lamont first promised this bank, Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government created aventure capital fund.

But Lamont criticized the PCs for selecting a Saskatchewan company to manage a fund he called inaccessible.

"Even with the launch of their venture capital fund, we've been talking to many entrepreneurs who are unable to get any kind of financing at all. That includes people with successful businesses," he said.

"It is especially difficult for women, for newcomers, for people of colour and for First Nations, simply because they don't have collateral. It's because they are not able to mortgage their house orput things on their credit card, which is what entrepreneurs are currently being asked to do."

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said Lamont's claim about the venture capital fund is untrue.

"We have had overwhelming uptake from the investments that we have made in the venture capital funds," she said at a Progressive Conservative campaign announcement.

• Get the news you need without restrictions. Download ourfree CBC News App.