Government savings to fund NDP election promises

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This article was published 14/12/2023 (691 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Wab Kinew announced his government has identified approximately $123 million in savings on Wednesday, but said those funds would be used to pay for campaign promises rather than address the projected $1.6-billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Kinew and Finance Minister Adrien Sala first announced the revised deficit figure last week, saying that the outgoing Progressive Conservative government had obscured Manitoba’s true financial situation after projecting a $363-million shortfall for this year.

“We are going to implement the cut to the provincial taxes on gasoline and diesel, we are going to invest in expanding hospital capacity, surgical capacity, make other investments to help our society move forward,” Kinew said during a Wednesday media conference.

“But we’re going to do so without adding to the deficit. In fact, we’re working very hard to hold the line.”

The gas tax holiday the NDP pledged during the election campaign from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2024 is expected to cost $82 million. A new winter plan to address homelessness has an anticipated price tag of $31 million and several health-care initiatives rolled out since the new government took power will be in the $10-million range.

Cancelling the previous government’s surgical and diagnostic task force, Sala said, will save the province approximately $15.4 million.

Another $14 million in savings was found in health-care administration costs, with a further $5.8 million coming from cost reductions relating to the program the Tories set up to recruit nurses from the Philippines.

“Where we have already developed a relationship with certain potential health-care workers from the Philippines, we’re definitely going to lean in to try and make sure that those folks can make their way to Manitoba,” Kinew said.

“But we’re not going to double down on the same approach that the PCs took. We are going to cast a wider net. Of course, education and retention are going to be important components of that.”

Explaining further, Kinew said progress made on that recruitment program “was close to zero” when Manitobans went to the polls in early October and that a “very, very low number” of staff will be brought in because of it.

According to Sala, the previous government had planned on stockpiling personal protective equipment that has since been deemed unnecessary. Cancelling that will result in approximately $16 million in savings, he said.

An idea fund introduced by the previous government was not subscribed to, saving the province approximately $25 million.

A COVID-19 command centre has been wound down for $32 million in savings.

Sala said his own department has found $2.6 million in cost reductions by cancelling conference attendance and audits. Other savings were found by eliminating the previous government’s economic development board’s office and reducing general administrative costs.

The only jobs lost because of this process, Kinew said, were associated with the cancellation of the surgical and diagnostic task force.

Discussing why he’s not cancelling any of the planned tax cuts instituted by the previous or new governments, Kinew said it’s a matter of predictability.

“You have households who have made their financial decisions for the coming year and we can’t pull the rug out from underneath you after you’ve already begun your financial planning,” he said.

“You got businesses who are making hiring decisions, they’re sending offers to people out of province trying to recruit them to come here to Manitoba. We have to be responsible and balanced and move with a steady hand here.”

Had the spending pattern of the previous government been maintained, Sala alleged the deficit would have been north of $2.5 billion.

As he did last week, Kinew said Wednesday that his government still intends on balancing the budget within one term as his party promised during the election.

The audit of provincial finances Kinew and Sala ordered from MNP is still in progress, Kinew and Sala said. Sala committed to making the results of that audit public once it is complete.

On Tuesday, Brandon East NDP MLA and Minister Responsible for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Glen Simard appointed a new board of directors for MBLL and provided it with a mandate letter asking it to end the pause on gaming expansions and to expand public liquor sales in the province.

The premier said Wednesday this decision was made primarily as an act of economic reconciliation with Indigenous groups and not out of a need to increase government revenues.

Kinew added that the idea is to move forward with these expansions in a social responsible way, but there’s no specific plan in place yet.

In an email, Progresssive Conservative shadow minister for finance Obby Khan cast doubt on the government’s numbers.

“After inheriting a $270-million surplus and the third-best economy in Canada, the NDP are painting a picture of doom and gloom to prime the pump for tax hikes, increased deficits and cuts to important programs that Manitobans rely on,” Khan wrote. “It’s misleading, it’s irresponsible and they still have not shown a serious plan for how they plan to pay for their $3 billion worth of election promises.”

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