View From the Legislature

Recently, our government released an update on the state of our ongoing efforts to reduce the deficit left behind by the former NDP government. Manitoba’s Finance Minister released the public accounts for 2017-2018, and they clearly show we are moving in the right direction and are on track, if not ahead, to get the budget back into balance.

With a summary deficit of $695 million, $145 million less than budgeted for the year, progress is being made towards responsible spending. This deficit is less than half of what was projected had the NDP remained in power. We know this is an all-hands-on-deck situation and our province needs to work together.

As a result of years of overspending, last year over $950 million was spent on servicing our provinces’ debt, which are dollars that could be better spent on services for Manitobans. While working our way back to balance, we have been able to increase spending on essential services like health, families, and education. Manitobans know that investing in critical areas while finding ways to improve efficiency are setting us on the path to stability.

In addition, the Civil Service Commission also released last week information about the size of the public service. Manitoba is fortunate to have tremendously talented and dedicated public servants but it has grown at a rate that was unsustainable and unaffordable for Manitobans. That is why we committed to reducing the public sector workforce by 1,200 positions by Spring 2019 and the report showed that we are on track to meet this goal.