March 3, 2020
Manitoba Government Introduces New Budget Accountability
– – –Province Cleans Up Special Funds and Returns Collected Fees to Their Intended Purpose: Fielding
As part of its upcoming Budget 2020, the Manitoba government is creating greater accountability and cleaning up special funds set up by the previous government, Finance Minister Scott Fielding announced today.
“As part of our plans to make Manitoba’s budgeting process more open and transparent, we discovered the previous government was collecting money from Manitobans into fake funds, yet the fees paid were not fully being used for their intended purpose,” said Fielding. “Funds were used to understate the size of the previous government’s deficits, making them look even smaller than they actually were. Our government’s accounting methods must be truthful and accountable to Manitobans and that is why Budget 2020 is cleaning up the mess created by these special funds.”
As an example, Fielding mentioned the Trucking Productivity Improvement Fund, which collected fees from companies who are using trucks to carry overweight and oversized loads under the guise the fees would be used to fix wear and tear on highways caused by heavy truck traffic. However, the fees collected were put into general revenue.
Budget 2020 will allocate $600,000 in Manitoba Infrastructure revenue and expenditure to reflect the collected permit fees from companies and the corresponding expense to maintain provincial highways that are included in the program.
To clear the outstanding balance in the Trucking Productivity Improvement Fund, Manitoba Infrastructure will make a one-time, $5-million investment in road preservation and maintenance in 2020-21.
The following special funds are in the process of being remediated to ensure those expecting benefits from the funds can rely on the money will be spent for its designated purposes:
• Abandonment Reserve Account,
• Mine Rehabilitation Reserve,
• Fisheries and Wildlife Enhancement Fund,
• Quarry Rehabilitation Reserve Account,
• Veterinary Sciences Scholarship Fund,
• Farm Machinery and Equipment Fund,
• Manitoba Opportunities Fund,
• Community Revitalization Fund,
• Victim’s Assistance Fund,
• Legal Aid,
• Borrowers Financial Literacy Fund,
• Land Titles Assurance Fund,
• Workplace Safety and Public Education Fund,
• Housing Development and Rehabilitation Fund,
• Fire Prevention Fund,
• Trucking Productivity Improvement Fund, and
• Waste Reduction and Recycling Support Fund.
“There was no one-size-fits-all fix to these special funds, and care was taken on each fund to find a way to protect the stakeholders whose money went into it and ensure money is set aside for them,” said Fielding. “We will take further legislative measures as required later this year. In the weeks ahead, Manitobans will learn other steps we are taking to make our provincial budget process more transparent and consistent, and apply the same rules to central government and dozens of other reporting entities.”
This year, departments will receive sufficient funds to use for their original, intended purposes and to ensure this money is spent. Going forward, departmental budgets will be increased by an amount equal to the revenues generated by the fees, to be spent on their intended purposes by the end of fiscal year, the minister said, adding these amounts will be part of base budgets in future years.
The provincial budget will be released March 11.
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