April 12, 2011
Budget 2011: Putting Families First, Moving Manitoba Forward
– – –Selinger Government's Five-year Plan Delivering Positive Results, Steady Growth: Wowchuk
Budget 2011, year two of Manitoba’s five-year economic plan, is keeping Manitoba on track as the province climbs out of the global economic downturn by delivering on the priorities of families, Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk announced today.
“When the downturn hit, we had a choice to make. We rejected calls to cut front-line services or raise taxes, and ignore Manitobans at risk of losing their jobs because that would have hurt our economy and families,” said Wowchuk. “Instead, we focused on the things families care about: jobs, health care, education and making life more affordable. We’ve seen positive results and that’s why we’re sticking to the plan.”
The minister said Budget 2011 builds on the province’s successes with a balanced approach by:
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Supporting families:
- Putting more money back into the pockets of Manitobans through tax cuts including a new Children’s Arts and Cultural Activity Tax Credit and an increase to the basic personal exemption of $1,000 over four years.
- Funding 2,100 more child-care spaces and 400 more nursery spaces.
- Increasing social housing by adding another 300 units and helping low-income Manitobans pay their rent with RentAid.
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Providing better health care:
- Taking important new steps toward ensuring every Manitoban who wants a family doctor will have one by 2015.
- Looking after seniors by hiring more personal-care home staff and giving families a break with a more generous Primary Caregiver Tax Credit.
- Providing a mobile primary-care unit to serve rural and northern families.
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Investing in education and growing the economy:
- Investing in quality, accessible post-secondary education by freezing university tuition fees to the rate of inflation and committing major multi-year funding to universities.
- Building new schools, gyms and child-care centres with one of the largest capital funding increase for public schools in Manitoba history.
- Creating a new, five-year $30-million program to help Manitoba businesses grow and reach new markets.
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Strengthening communities:
- Increasing municipal infrastructure and transit grants to the equivalent of one percentage point of the existing provincial sales tax, dedicating future revenue growth to municipalities for infrastructure funding.
- Introducing the next stage of the plan to renew provincial highways, after already building, renewing and repairing over 5,000 kilometres of roads.
- Investing in Manitoba’s parks and campgrounds and cleaning up Lake Winnipeg.
- Hiring 66 more police officers and 10 prosecutors to fight crime and protect communities.
The minister noted that over the past year, Manitoba has had the lowest unemployment rate in the country, the population is growing, home values are strong and Manitoba’s small businesses are among the most optimistic in the country.
“In this budget, we said no to raising taxes and cutting the services Manitoba families count on to balance the books, as some suggested we should,” said Wowchuk. “With positive, practical solutions, we’ve seen steady growth and we’re on track to return to surplus in Budget 2014.”
This is the 12th straight year in which major business and personal taxes have been cut or frozen. The deficit for 2010-11 is projected to be $467 million, which is $78 million better than projected in Budget 2010, and the anticipated deficit for 2011-12 will be a further $29 million lower than 2010-11, the minister said.
In 2011, the province’s net debt is projected to be 26.2 per cent of GDP, down from 32.9 per cent in 1999. Debt servicing costs are projected to be six cents of every dollar raised, less than half the cost in 1999.
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