The Manitoba Party is close to getting official party status and plans to have candidates running in the April 19th provincial election.

The Manitoba Party was formed in September of 2015 with a goal of bringing prosperity back to Manitoba. "We've grown a lot over the past few months" said President Gary Marshall.

He anticipates they will have official party status by the end of February at the latest. "Once we get official status I am sure we will get even more people stepping forward to run in the April 19th general election."

Manitoba has 57 constituencies and Marshall notes they already have candidates ready to go in about 20 and he anticipates they will get even more over the next several weeks.

The Manitoba Party's major policy is lowering taxes. It bills itself as the party with one big objective and that's real growth and creating wealth for all Manitobans.

"Our plan to lower taxes is a big drawing card and we are getting calls from people that have supported all the major parties."

Marshall says their plan is to go after the roughly 40 percent of the people that don't vote. "Everybody likes lower taxes and more money in their pocket, and we think our tax plan will get voters out on election day."