Tories say NDP budget too ‘rosy’

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This article was published 08/04/2025 (353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government was called out Tuesday for delivering a budget that’s “completely out of touch with economic reality.”

Tory finance critic Lauren Stone made the comment in relation to Bank of Canada reports, issued Monday, that show major drops in consumer and business confidence. Stone claimed that proves Finance Minister Adrien Sala’s budget, delivered on March 20, misses the mark.

The Bank of Canada’s first-quarter 2025 business outlook survey and its survey of consumer expectations aren’t optimistic about the year ahead. The survey, conducted before the full impact of tariffs imposed by the U.S. have been felt, show that businesses and consumers sense economic trouble ahead.

The number of Canadian businesses that expect a recession in the next 12 months has doubled to 30 per cent from 15 per cent in the last two quarters.

The survey found Canadians are more worried about losing their job, that their financial health will worsen and that tariffs will drive up prices and inflation. It reported 67 per cent of Canadians expect a recession in the coming year, up from 47 per cent in the last two quarters.

“This is incredibly concerning for Manitoba,” Stone told reporters. “Manitoba is not going to be immune to a recession that will happen across our country.”

In the legislature, she asked how the NDP government expects to collect more in income taxes and property taxes when a recession is looming and U.S. tariffs are threatening the economy.

The finance minister said the province is prepared for the impact of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“We are going to Trump-proof our economy with a $3.7-billion capital plan,” Sala said. “We’re going to build, build, build… That’s the best way to grow our economy and protect jobs,” he said.

“We’re going to create 18,000 jobs.”

The NDP government forecast a deficit of $800 million to $1.9 billion, depending on the hit from tariffs, and has promised to balance Manitoba’s books by the end of its first term in government.

After question period, Stone said the “rosy picture” laid out in the budget is not an “accurate portrayal of the economic realities that Manitoba and our country are facing.”

carol.sanders@ freepress.mb.ca