Province to open Manitoba’s financial books

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/09/2011 (5393 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A report to be released today will show Manitoba is on pace to balance its books, as planned, by 2014, Premier Greg Selinger said Thursday.

The Finance department is poised to release the province’s public accounts, a final accounting of all revenues and spending for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

The document — or the fact it has not yet been released — has become a focus of attention during the provincial election campaign. Progressive Conservatives have suggested that the province is in far worse shape financially than the NDP government is letting on. They say that is why a PC government would likely be unable to deliver a balanced budget before 2018.

Selinger would not say Thursday how large a deficit the government rang up in 2010-2011. But he said the report will be “a much more accurate measure” of the province’s financial status than the rhetoric coming from the government’s opponents.

“You’ll find the public accounts show we exceeded our target on our five-year plan last year and that we’re on track (in eliminating the deficit),” he said.

In her April budget, Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk estimated the province would run a summary deficit of $467 million for the year ending March 31, 2011, or $78 million better than originally projected. She projected a deficit for the current fiscal year of $438 million, $10 million better than when the NDP first announced its five-year plan for dealing with the economic downturn and its damaging effects on the province’s finances.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Wednesdays

A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.

Sign up for Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

However, a Conservative official said Thursday the public accounts for 2010-2011 do not take into account “the literal blizzard” of pre-election spending announcements by the Selinger government nor the added costs posed by this year’s flood. The province’s plan also assumes much smaller spending increases in the next few years than the NDP has managed to achieve in its past two budgets, the official said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca