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News Release - Manitoba
April 4, 2007
Long-term Vision to Invest in Water Protection, Grow Green Economy, Reduce Poverty, Boost Support for Schools, Cut Taxes: Minister
Budget 2007 Delivers Forward-Looking Plan To Build Manitoba: Selinger
– – –Long-term Vision to Invest in Water Protection, Grow Green Economy, Reduce Poverty, Boost Support for Schools, Cut Taxes: Minister
Budget 2007’s long-term vision builds Manitoba into the future through investments in more police officers, doctors and nurses, tax cuts for small businesses and families, and by making Manitoba a more attractive place for youth to live, work, and go to school, Finance Minister Greg Selinger said today.
“Manitoba is a changed province today,” said Selinger. “There is a renewed spirit of optimism and strong momentum for growth across the province. We have more doctors and nurses, housing values are up, education property taxes are down, investments in highway construction are at an historic high level, and new green-energy opportunities are springing up across rural and northern Manitoba.
“With today’s budget, we lay out a long-term plan to build on these successes and to continue building Manitoba into the future.”
Budget 2007 is the eighth straight balanced budget and the first summary budget in Manitoba’s history that fully reflects generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). This is the first time in 50 years a Manitoba government has achieved eight straight balanced budgets.
The budget projects a summary surplus of $175 million while making a payment of $110 million to reduce debt and pay for pension liabilities. The budget projects a Fiscal Stabilization Fund balance of $477 million at the end of 2006-07. The only draw from the Fiscal Stabilization Fund for 2007-08 will be $37 million for federal funds allocated for health wait-time reductions. As was intended, these funds will be used exclusively to bring down health wait times.
The Building Budget details long-term plans in a number of areas including:
· increasing support for public schools with a new plan to increase provincial funding to 80 per cent;
· support for families with new personal tax cuts, beginning with an immediate $125 increase in the Education Property Tax Credit;
· reducing personal income taxes by $119 million with tax cuts for all Manitobans, plus a plan to cut middle income taxes by 10 per cent over four years;
· support for parents who will be able to earn a combined federal-provincial tax credit of up to $132 to assist with the cost of registering children in physical activity programs making Manitoba one of only two provinces to provide a matching Tax Credit of this nature;
· fighting crime with 30 additional police officers, doubling the provincial investment in Manitoba’s Organized Crime Task Force, and providing additional support for police in schools and after-school programming for kids;
· creating a specialized unit to handle child exploitation cases, including a new dedicated crown attorney;
· continued support to build hydro for the future with a renewed power sale;
· fighting poverty with new income supports and a multi-year affordable housing plan;
· enriching support to universities and colleges by providing an average funding increase of seven per cent;
· strengthening Manitoba’s competitive advantage with business tax cuts including phasing out corporate capital tax, committing to reduce the small business tax rate to one per cent and reducing the general corporate income tax rate to 12 per cent in 2009, subject to balanced budget requirements; and
· making a bold commitment to double the province’s current immigration level over the next 10 years.
The Building Budget advances Manitoba’s first-ever, five-year plan for highways and bridges, providing for a record number of projects with an investment of $2 billion. Today’s budget invests in redeveloping PTH 75, the Trans-Canada Highway, northern roads and PTH 2, 3, 6, 8, 16 and 59. It also provides an increase of 24 per cent for maintenance and preservation including more funding for winter highways maintenance activities such as snow plowing, sanding, de-icing and winter drainage. It also funds the purchase of 21 snowplow/sanding trucks, renewing almost 10 per cent of Manitoba’s 215 snowplow fleet.
The Building Budget also allocates a record $33 million under cost-shared agreements to allow municipalities to advance priorities like Winnipeg’s waste-water and treatment upgrade. The budget recognizes there are great demands for municipal and community infrastructure, and commits to working with the federal government on guidelines for new infrastructure spending for priorities like water and sewer projects.
Budget 2007 commits to a new plan to increase provincial funding to 80 per cent of total public schools education expenditures. This new plan builds on a solid foundation of strong support for education and maintaining affordability for taxpayers, which has included raising provincial operating funding to $956 million, fully eliminating the Residential Education Support Levy and increasing the Education Property Tax Credit.
As the backbone of the province’s economic strategy, the budget enriches the three-year, $60-million plan for post-secondary education and training, and continues the 10 per cent tuition reduction, along with fully offsetting revenue for universities and colleges – tied directly to enrolment – for the eighth year in a row, a total of $95 million since 2000.
The budget further makes Manitoba a more attractive place for youth to live, work and go to school by:
· implementing the 60 per cent tax rebate on tuition fees for all post-secondary graduates who live and work in Manitoba, encouraging youth to put down roots and establish careers in Manitoba;
· providing $2 million for Manitoba graduate scholarships;
· investing $8.2 million for Manitoba bursaries; and
· providing $2 million for key training and skills priorities including apprenticeship training and other critical skills shortages.
Budget 2007 continues to invest in health care to support more doctors, nurses and technologists. It invests $3 million in new funding for physician specialist training including emergency room doctors, oncologists and pediatricians. It also provides ongoing support for an expanded 100-student faculty of medicine class, an increased 25-space licensing program for international medical graduates, more than 50 new technologist training seats and 3,000 nurses in training.
Budget 2007 further invests in health care to provide better care sooner by:
· installing a new leading-edge non-invasive cancer knife – the first in Canada – to treat cancers in all parts of the body;
· providing funding for a new state-of-the-art cardiac centre at St. Boniface General Hospital;
· constructing a new, permanent hospital to replace the existing building in Selkirk; and
· building a new ACCESS centre in the northwest area of Winnipeg;
· Providing new resources for suicide prevention; and
· Investing more than $2.5 million in new funding to address sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.
Budget 2007 introduces a new Rewarding Work program, a four-year plan to refocus the province’s low-income support system to help more people achieve employment and higher incomes. The new plan focuses on enhancing opportunities for education and training, expanding employment, making work pay for families, easing the transition from welfare to work and helping people retain a job. As part of the province’s multi-year commitment to child care, Budget 2007 makes a new provincial investment of more than $14 million to backfill for withdrawn federal funds.
Budget 2007 invests more than $10 million in additional funds to support the third phase of the province’s water protection initiatives, improve water management and flood protection, and address recommendations of the Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board report including:
· managing nutrients to meet leading-edge regulations on nitrogen and phosphorous;
· additional staff for inspections and enforcement;
· enhancing watershed planning and programming;
· enhancing habitat;
· Conservation districts;
· on-site waste-water management and manure storage facilities;
· Manitoba Water Services Board projects;
· further scientific research on Lake Winnipeg; and
· strengthening drainage licensing and enforcement.
A new partnership with the Government of Canada will provide $53.8 million in new federal ecoTrust funding for priority projects under Manitoba’s climate-change action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and grow the green economy. Combined with existing and new initiatives, this funding will help Manitoba reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Budget 2007 further invests in the green economy by:
· introducing a new 10 per cent Green Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit to encourage new and expanded manufacturing in Manitoba’s green energy sectors;
· providing support for new climate change legislation that will set out goals to reduce greenhouse gases while contributing to economic development and protecting the environment;
· paying a $2,000 rebate to support Manitobans who buy hybrid electric vehicles;
· supporting the provision of loans up to $20,000 by Manitoba Hydro to encourage the installation of geothermal heat pumps and offering a reduced interest rate of 4.9 per cent for the first five years; and
· restoring the 50-50 funding partnership with $12.6 million in capital funding (with support of the federal Public Transit Capital Trust) to support affordable and accessible transit systems in Winnipeg, Brandon, Thompson and Flin Flon.
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For more information:
- Public information, contact Manitoba Government Inquiry: 1-866-626-4862 or 204-945-3744.
- Media requests for general information, contact Communications and Engagement: newsroom@gov.mb.ca.
- Media requests for ministerial comment, contact Cabinet Communications: cabcom@manitoba.ca.
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Need More Info?
Public information, contact Manitoba Government Inquiry: 1-866-626-4862 or 204-945-3744.
Media requests for general information, contact Communications and Engagement: newsroom@gov.mb.ca.
Media requests for ministerial comment, contact Cabinet Communications: cabcom@manitoba.ca.
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