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Manitoba budget: steady as she goes

By: Bruce Owen

Posted: 03/25/2009 2:59 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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Finance Minister Greg Selinger speaks to media Wednesday. (MIKE APORIUS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

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The Doer government is sticking to its steady-as-she-goes approach to running the province’s economy, delivering another surplus budget -- and one with plenty of stimulus to protect Manitoba from the global recession.

The big news in today’s budget is that Premier Gary Doer will reduce his NDP government’s debt payments to only $20 million this year compared to $110 million to last year.

It will also pull $110 million out of the rainy-day fund to ensure there’s enough money in the system for core health care and education services. The province has already pulled $98 million out of the fund – it was $818 million – in part to fast-track stimulus funding to the City of Winnipeg.

"We must be realistic about the challenges that lie ahead," Finance Minister Greg Selinger said in his budget speech. "Experts predict the economy will continue to be volatile over the next 12 to 24 months. To deal with this, we have developed a plan to create and maintain jobs and critical services.

"We have made some difficult decisions, but we have been balanced in those decisions."

The 2009-10 budget will see a 4.4-per-cent increase in core spending from last year’s budget, an increase Selinger said is possible because Manitoba’s economy is relatively stable compared to other provinces, many of which are bringing in deficit budgets to deal with tough economic times. The budget also predicts a $48 million surplus this time next year.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the only provinces that have delivered balanced budgets this year.

The budget affirms the province’s pledge for modest personal and business tax reductions, most notably the elimination of the small business tax in 2010.

The main focus of the 10th budget under Doer’s New Democrats is an increase in capital investment to $1.6 billion, a $625-million increase from last year and one designed to create jobs. That’s in addition to the $135 million expected from Ottawa this year in economic stimulus.

Projects that fall under this ramped-up spending program include renovated public housing, re-paving highways throughout the province, and increased capacity for training and education at universities and colleges.

The province is also making credit more easily available to business under the Manitoba Industrial Opportunities Program.

Selinger also said over the next fiscal year more than one-third of government departments will freeze speeding and even see slight decreases.

"In tough economic times, it is especially important for government to make the best use of public resources," Selinger said. "To do this, we will manage our staff vacancies and reduce overhead costs."

Maternal health care also received a boost through the introduction of a training program for midwives in southern Manitoba. Few details were available Wednesday, but the facility is expected to increase access to midwives for Manitoba women.

And while not exactly a budget item, the province also said today the speed limit on some of Manitoba’s twinned highways increases to 110 kilometres per hour effective July 1.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

What the budget means immediately to you:

Cigarette taxes go up a penny per cigarette tonight.
Speeding fines go up as of July 1 between $27 and $171 depending on degree of infraction.
The province is making entrance to all provincial parks free for two years to get more Manitobans staying in the province to vacation here. "We think that folks still want to recreate and we think they should recreate in Manitoba," Selinger said.

Other changes include:

Dropping the first income tax bracket tax 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.

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