Pallister, Friesen selling budget to Toronto financiers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/06/2016 (3776 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s new Progressive Conservative finance minister delivered his maiden budget on Tuesday. Now he has to sell it to lenders and credit rating agencies.

Cameron Friesen and Premier Brian Pallister will travel to Toronto for meetings Thursday and Friday to convince the financial world that Manitoba’s fiscal course is prudent.

Manitoba’s summary deficit for the coming year is projected to be $911 million, the third-highest on record.

Last year, as a result of repeated high deficits and no clear plan to get the province’s books balanced, bond rating agencies lowered the province’s credit rating.

Pallister and Friesen don’t want that to happen again, so they’re off to meet financial power brokers immediately.

At a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce breakfast Wednesday, Friesen said it will take time for the government to improve Manitoba’s finances. Business leaders were disappointed to learn on Tuesday that the PCs are setting an eight-year timetable to get the books balanced.

While the plan is longer than business would like, Friesen said the government intends to hit its targets.

“We’re trying to be very realistic about revenue numbers. We’re trying to be very realistic about expenditure numbers,” the minister said in a 25-minute speech at the Fort Garry Hotel.

“I would rather be surprised in a good way in nine, 10, 11 months than to have to deal with the impacts that surprise in a negative way.”

Meanwhile, in a media scrum over the noon hour, NDP finance critic James Allum accused the Pallister government of deceiving Manitobans in its budget on Tuesday.

The Tories promised during the election campaign that they would not increase taxes, but their decision to eliminate the school tax rebate from higher income families was just that, he said.

“At the heart of this budget is a deception about the kind of government Mr. Pallister suggested it was going to be and then didn’t live up to those expectations,” Allum said. “We’re quite concerned about the impact on low- and middle-income seniors.”

Allum said the NDP is also disappointed in the absence of a commitment by the government to boost the minimum wage, increase the number of child care spaces or provide job opportunities for youth.

He accused the PCs of inflating the size of last year’s NDP deficit by failing to account for $143 million in federal flood payments that had been due but did not arrive before March 31, the conclusion of the fiscal year.

Allum said the NDP stands by the $773 million summary budget deficit for 2015-2016, as stated in its March 8 fiscal update. On Tuesday, the government forecast the summary deficit for last year at $1.011 billion.

The NDP critic said this year’s projected $911 million deficit is the new government’s responsibility.

“If Mr. Friesen doesn’t have the ability to manage debt and to manage the deficit, then he has a lot of explaining to do,” Allum said. “And I think he owns this deficit.”

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca