Archived News Releases

 

·         Implementing 2009 tax commitments to maintain the purchasing power of families and the financial strength of businesses.

·         Increasing the Education Property Tax credit by $50 to $650, saving homeowners and renters an additional $16 million this year.

·         Increasing the Farmland School Tax Rebate to 75 per cent.

·         Making it easier for caregivers of people with disabilities to access the Primary Caregiver Tax Credit.

·         Eliminating the small business income tax rate as of December 2010.

·         Reducing the general Corporation Income Tax rate to 12 per cent on July 1, 2009.

·         Continuing to phase out of the general Corporation Capital Tax with final elimination by the end of 2010.

·         Raising tobacco tax rates by one cent to 18.5 cents per cigarette at midnight tonight.

·         Making the retail sales tax exemption for manure slurry tanks permanent, extending the Odour Control Tax Credit and doubling the Riparian Tax Credit program for agricultural producers.

·         Increasing the basic personal amount, spousal amount and eligible dependent amount by $100.

·         Dropping the first income tax bracket tax rate to 10.8 per cent from 10.9 per cent.

·         Increasing the middle tax bracket threshold to $31,000 from $30,544.

·         Increasing the top income tax bracket threshold to $67,000 from $66,000.

·         Increasing the amounts used to calculate the Personal Tax Credit by at least 2.6 per cent.

 

·         Providing additional funding for innovation through the Manitoba Research and Innovation Fund.

·         Enhancing tax credits to support investment, innovation and skill development including the Community Enterprise Investment Tax Credit, the Community Enterprise Development Tax Credit, the Research and Development Tax Credit, expanding apprenticeship tax credits, extending the Co-op Education and Apprenticeship Tax Credit, and instituting parallel business tax changes announced in the 2009 federal budget.

·         Tripling the value of loans available through the Manitoba Industrial Opportunities Program (MIOP) for businesses creating or maintaining jobs by expanding or upgrading their operations. 

 

·         Extending the Manitoba Mineral Exploration Tax Credit for three more years, doubling the credit in 2009 and tripling it in 2010.

·         Reducing the mining tax to 10, 15 and 17 per cent from 18 per cent, depending on taxable income.

·         Providing funding to implement legislation to protect foreign workers.

·         Increasing resources for workplace safety and health standards.

 

·         Providing for a six per cent overall increase in base operating grant and strategic program investments for universities and colleges.

·         Providing a 5.25 per cent increase or $53 million for public schools, the largest ever investment in public schools funding.

·         Strengthening the Tax Incentive Grant to help school divisions hold the line on property taxes.

·         Doubling the available scholarships for Aboriginal medical students.

·         Expanding training for nurses at the University of Manitoba, Brandon University and the University College of the North.

·         Increasing funding to the Manitoba Bursary Fund.

·         Increasing funding to the Bright Futures Fund to encourage and support youth to pursue post‑secondary education.

·         Increasing funding for adult learning centres.

·         Introducing additional training seats for apprenticeship training.

·         Establishing a new bursary fund for prospective apprentices in financial need.

·         Providing a new financial incentive to encourage youth to purse careers in the skilled trades.

·         Increasing funding under federal/provincial labour market agreements to support training and new skills development for workers affected by the economic downturn.

·         Continuing support for the Northern Essential Skills Training Initiative for lower-skilled, unemployed and under-employed people who need to upgrade their skills.

 

·         Providing funding to continue to recruit and retain physicians, especially in rural and northern Manitoba.

·         Supporting training for advanced intensive-care nurses. 

·         Providing funding to hire more emergency room staff and add new ambulances to the provincial fleet.

·         Expanding the successful midwifery baccalaureate program to students in southwestern Manitoba.

·         Updating pharmacare deductibles resulting in 70 per cent of recipients seeing increases of less than $5 per month.

·         Expanding the successful Advanced Access initiative to help physician clinics reduce wait times.

·         Providing more funding for capital investments in addictions and mental health-care services including the Magnus Centre, a multi-agency facility to provide services under one roof.

·         Addressing chronic diseases such as diabetes by raising awareness.

 

·         Eliminating entrance fees at provincial parks for the next two years to support recreation opportunities closer to home.

·         Continuing to invest in poverty reduction strategies which have helped reduce the number of Manitoba children living in poverty by 40 per cent.

·         Enhancing the Manitoba Shelter Benefit by changing income eligibility and providing more supports for some people receiving Employment and Income Assistance.

·         Creating Rebound, a new program to provide training opportunities to reduce the need for income assistance.

·         Taking additional steps to provide people with access to healthy and nutritious food.

·         Providing funding for a range of housing options for individuals with mental-health issues.

·         Increasing supports for children in care.

·         Implementing the second phase of the province’s sexual exploitation reduction strategy.

·         Funding additional child-care spaces.

·         Increasing wages for child-care centre staff by three per cent effective July 1.

·         Developing new school-based family resource centres.

·         Increasing access to applied behaviour analysis services for preschool and school-aged children with autism.

·         Increasing community living supports for Manitobans with mental disabilities.

  

·         Providing the City of Winnipeg $213 million, an increase of $10.5 million over 2008.

·         Providing $4 million in new funding for emergency services delivered by the City of Winnipeg.

·         Providing funding of $3 million more for Winnipeg transit services.

·         Providing funding for Siloam Mission in Winnipeg.

·         Increasing funding to the Main Street Project.

·         Providing Manitoba municipalities and communities with $84 million, an increase of $4 million over last year, for roads, transit, public safety and other municipal infrastructure and service priorities.

·         Expanding Neighbourhoods Alive! to seven Winnipeg inner-city neighbourhoods and five additional urban centres throughout Manitoba.

·         Enhancing youth recreation programs at nine inner-city recreation centres in partnership with the City of Winnipeg.

·         Investing in information and programs to help new immigrants adjust to life in Manitoba.

·         Increasing operating grants by two per cent for major cultural agencies and other arts, recreation, heritage and sports organizations effective July 2009.

·         Increasing the grant assistance to Onscreen Manitoba and the Western Canadian Music Alliance.

·         Providing an operating grant for the Manito Ahbee Festival which celebrates Aboriginal culture.

·         Funding the preservation of the ruins at the Trappist Monastery Heritage Park in St. Norbert.

·         Supporting the 2009 Allen Cup in Steinbach and the 2009 National Aboriginal Hockey Championships in Winnipeg.

·         Supporting the Memorial Cup in Brandon in 2010.

·         Funding for Manitoba’s Olympic presence in Vancouver in 2010.

 

·         Supporting the hiring of 10 new police officers in Winnipeg and one in Brandon.

·         Beginning the construction of the women’s correctional facility.

·         Expanding the Lighthouses program for youth.

·         Increasing funding for shelters for renovations, security and services for children.

·         Investing an additional $45,000 for new weather radio towers to provide better coverage across the province.

·         Expanding flood forecasting resources and ice-jam mitigation efforts.

 

·         Increasing rural economic community development initiatives by 8.7 per cent.

·         Providing the SafetyAid program for seniors in rural and northern Manitoba.

·         Expanding food safety programs by increasing inspections of provincially registered food processing and manufacturing facilities, introducing on-farm safety programs for livestock producers, developing a food-safety database and creating a food-safety strategic plan.

·         Enhancing animal welfare programs’ and laboratory’s capacities to deal with animal diseases and help protect Manitoba’s livestock exports.

·         Expanding Neighbourhoods Alive! to Dauphin, Flin Flon, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk and The Pas.

·         Increasing access to the Rural Entrepreneur Assistance Program to more businesses in rural Manitoba.

·         Establishing a GO Centre in northern Manitoba to support the production of local healthy foods in the north.

·         Supporting technology training through the Northwest Community Futures Development Corporation which supports 13 communities in northwest Manitoba.

·         Expanding mental-health crisis stabilizations services for youth in Thompson and the Interlake.

·         Proceeding with a cleanup of metals in the soil of 10 Flin Flon parks as a precautionary measure. 

·         Funding for the Thompson Homeless Shelter.

·         Proceeding with hydroelectric projects in the north including the construction of the Wuskwatim Dam with community partners, development work on Conawapa and exploring the development of the Keeyask generating station.

·         Supporting Manitoba First Nations on the east side of Lake Winnipeg in the bid to designate part of the boreal forest as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

·         Constructing a new community hall in Grandview.

·         Completion of an aquatic center in Arborg.

 

·         Reducing the interest rates on Power Smart loans offered by Manitoba Hydro to five per cent from 6.5 per cent.

·         Increasing funding to the e-waste initiative for old electronics.

·         Expanding support for the proper disposal of household hazardous wastes.

 

·         Introducing a new Power Smart program to help small businesses save resources through energy efficiency upgrades.

·         Developing a new provincial campground.

·         Upgrading existing parks and campground infrastructure.

·         Investing in the growth and development of conservation districts.

·         Extending the Green Energy Equipment Tax Credit to solar thermal systems along with geothermal.

·         Introducing a Waste Reduction and Recycling Support Levy to provide funding to municipalities based on the amount of waste that is recycled.

·         Investing in supports to pave the way for the construction of the Wuskwatim generating station, the development work on Conawapa and the potential development of the Keeyask generation station. 

·         Continuing investments in wind, geothermal and other alternative energy sources.

·         Working with Manitoba fishers towards a new governance framework for Lake Winnipeg.

·         Undertaking more scientific research to support nutrient reduction options.

·         Developing further long-term objectives for nutrient reduction in the Lake Winnipeg basin.

·         Providing more resources for the inspection of livestock manure storage facilities and onsite waste-water facilities.

·         Developing a new wetland protection and restoration initiative.

·         Investing in the restoration of the province’s largest marshes.

·         Improving the Pineland Forest Nursery.

·         Supporting a new youth project in Whiteshell Provincial Park.

-