View From the Legislature

Putting together a provincial budget, not unlike a household budget, is about balancing priorities. There will almost always be more needs or desires than there will be financial ability to meet them. In any budget the needs of today must be addressed while looking towards the impact it will have on future budgets or, in the case of governments, future generations.

The Manitoba provincial budget which was released on Monday, works to find this balance. First, it works toward moving to a fiscal balance, a place where the province stops spending more money than it receives from taxpayers. When we were elected government two years ago, we were on a path set by the former NDP administration that would take us to annual deficits of well over $1 billion per year.

After two years of looking for efficiencies and finding a new course, the projected provincial deficit for the 2018/19 budget is expected to be $521 million, less than half of what was expected under the NDP. While that number is still too high, significant progress has been made on deficit reduction and we are heading in the right direction.

While getting back to balance has to be done, it has to happen in a responsible way and in a way that still addresses the priorities of Manitobans. I was pleased, as Minister of Health, to see in budget 2018 that ambulance fees will be reduced again. During the past election we promised to reduce the fees by 50% and are on track to keep our promise. The announced ambulance fee reduction to $340 means these fees will be reduced by 32% since we became government.

In addition, the budget sets aside funding to hire 60 new full time paramedics for rural Manitoba. This is one of the largest increases in support for paramedics ever. Our health care system, and especially in rural Manitoba, relies heavily on a strong paramedic and ambulance system and the budget recognizes that need.

The provincial budget will also see the largest increase in the Basic Personal Exemption (BPE) in our provinces history. The BPE is the amount of money that Manitobans can earn before they begin paying taxes on their income. It has been set at one of the lowest levels in Canada under the NDP which meant that Manitobans began paying taxes earlier than most other Canadians. Beginning on January 1 of next year, the BPE will be increased by $1010 and then increased again in 2020 by another $1010. This will allow Manitobans to keep more money in their pockets and take thousands of Manitobans off of the provincial tax roll all together.

Budget 2018 strikes the balance of reducing our deficit, lowering personal income taxes and funding the priorities of Manitoba and it is a budget that keeps the promises that were made to Manitobans in the election campaign two years ago.