COLUMN: Report from the Legislature – Manitobans face costly year ahead

Welcome to 2025! It has been a great start to the new year in our corner of the province thanks to the hardworking community members that take pride in making our communities the best they can be. Unfortunately thanks to Wab Kinew and the NDP, it will be remembered as the year taxes skyrocketed, and life got more expensive for Manitobans.

To recap: Manitobans woke up on Jan. 1 to discover gasoline had soared from $1.14/litre to $1.50/litre after Wab Kinew ended the provincial gasoline tax holiday. This is something that the current government has used to hide their future tax agenda. Manitobans were temporarily enjoying a break at the pumps while Kinew was setting the stage for widespread tax increases. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation estimates that the increase at the pumps will cost you $526 more this year. Along with this, education taxes soared after the NDP meddled with the PC’s education tax rebate program, Winnipeg introduced a municipal budget that contained the largest property tax increase in 30 years because the province isn’t giving municipalities the supports they need and MPI just announced a 5.7 percent rate hike, adding another $50/year to Autopac premiums.

Prior to the new year, the Kinew government was busy playing Christmas Grinch – regifting and repackaging programs with rebranded taxpayer dollars while failing to meet the needs of Manitobans. The latest example is the “One Manitoba Revenue Growth Fund,” which was created by making deep cuts to the Building Sustainable Communities and Green Team programs earlier this year. These two successful programs supported community development, sustainability, and youth jobs but these cuts weren’t part of any transparent or strategic plan. The money was simply repackaged, moved around and presented as though it was new.

The NDP’s sleight-of-hand may give the government short-term headlines, but it comes with tremendous uncertainty for Manitobans and their communities. Organizations that counted on BSC and Green Teams for project funds were left scrambling to deal with the fallout last spring and continue to face delays today. Community initiatives can’t be stopped and restarted without causing serious disruptions.

Manitobans can tell when something smells rotten. At the end of 2024, education tax notices arrived, advising them that they will be seeing sharp increases on their monthly property tax bills starting January 1. This follows the NDP’s decision to eliminate the 50% provincial school tax rebate for homeowners and small businesses this year, a move expected to generate at least $150 million in new provincial taxes. Farmers, small business owners and families who own a cottage will be hit the hardest, as they will no longer qualify for a rebate on their properties. The original restructuring of school taxation was done with years of planning and consideration, encouraging entrepreneurial and agriculture investment into our province while supporting all Manitoban taxpayers.

Adding insult to injury, many Manitobans will also pay more personal income taxes in 2025, including doctors, engineers, trades workers and other skilled professionals, as the NDP reduces and eliminates basic personal exemptions for higher income earners.

Manitobans expect their hard-earned tax dollars to be invested and spent wisely. Instead, this government is eroding public trust by repackaging, re-labelling and re-gifting the same dollars while delivering funding cuts, program cancellations, rising gas taxes, education tax hikes and increased property taxes. Wab Kinew and the NDP are making life less affordable and more expensive.

Hardworking Manitobans want leaders who are honest about their priorities and transparent in their decisions, not a government chasing quick political wins at the expense of long-term vision. Manitobans are being ignored and disrespected by this government, which is failing to live up to its promises.

It’s time to stop the shell games and tax grabs and start putting Manitobans first.

As always please contact me if you have any input or concerns. I look forward to having discussion about what will make life easier for constituents in the southeast corner of our province. Stop by my office at 146 Main St. Grunthal or contact me at konradnarth.ca.