COLUMN: Report from the Legislature – Nothing to help families

Manitobans who hoped the new provincial budget would offer some relief with ongoing affordability issues and job losses have reason to be concerned. The NDP government’s spending plan for 2025-26 includes nothing to help families struggling with rising costs and offers no action plan for economic growth. Instead, amidst a trade war with anticipated tariffs from the U.S. and China, Premier Wab Kinew and his cabinet ministers are giving themselves raises while hitting Manitobans with millions of dollars more in new taxes.

Budget 2025 contains only minor tariff contingencies, and without clarity on how they will be used to help Manitobans cope with associated costs. A 25 percent tariff on U.S. imports, combined with retaliation from Ottawa, is expected to reduce Manitoba incomes by $1,420 per capita. Tariffs on steel alone will hurt more than 480 Manitoba businesses. The overall impact of the U.S. tariffs could be a 3.8 percent drop of $3.6 billion in our provincial GDP and a result comparable to the recession Manitoba experienced in 2009.

Premier Kinew and his finance minister tout the budget as a plan to protect the province and Manitobans, but it is only hurting both. While hitting families with higher taxes, the NDP continues to borrow to spend. The government is increasing the provincial debt to a massive $36.5 billion by the end of this year and will spend $66 million more on interest payments. That means $66 million less is available for important services and infrastructure including highways, education and health care. Manitobans can’t afford their government to waste tens of millions on interest payments while the NDP presents no plan to reduce the debt.

The NDP’s decision to remove protection from inflation for low-income Manitobans by freezing the indexation of income tax brackets and the basic personal amount is another hit to families struggling with rent and rising grocery bills. This bracket creep tax hike will come at a cost of $82 million to taxpayers as the government’s overall income tax revenue grows by a projected $446 million.

Due to underfunding by Wab Kinew’s NDP government, school property taxes are out of control with some divisions raising them this year by as much as 15 to 25 percent and forcing families to pay an additional $1,000 or more. The NDP also continues to apply education property tax to farmland, putting total school property tax revenues on a projection to increase by $182 million. The premier promised Manitobans a new funding model, yet all he has given them are higher tax bills.

The NDP government’s ignorance to the needs of businesses is also staggering. While small companies brace for the impact of the tariffs, they will now face new PST charges on computer services including software subscriptions, data storage and remote processing for a total cost of $16 million. The budget offers Manitoba businesses some relief from the province’s obstructive payroll tax, but it won’t take effect until next January. That’s far too long to wait for businesses that are uncertain today about the impending effects of the U.S. and Chinese tariffs and in need of immediate government support. As well, the premier cancelled the payroll tax relief that was put in place by the previous Progressive Conservative government in 2023. Businesses require real support – not a half-measure. Permanent tax relief would relieve wage pressures and help with higher costs of insurance premiums due to the increase in thefts and other crime.

The NDP budget provides no plan to eliminate or even lessen interprovincial trade barriers, or to motivate new private-sector investment. The Kinew government has yet to produce any form of strategy for trade or economic development for our province. Manitobans need a government that takes the tariff threat and affordability crisis seriously, and the Premier’s jokester approach might make for good headlines but the situation is no laughing matter.

April is Cancer Awareness Month, also known as Daffodil Month. If you are able, I encourage you to support the Daffodil Campaign to help advance research and support service so one in Manitoba has to fight cancer alone.

As we look forward to the warmer temperatures that Spring promises, I would like to wish everyone in the Lac du Bonnet constituency and across Manitoba a happy and blessed Easter.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at wayne@wayneewasko.com, or call me at 204-268-3282. Also, you can follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @wayneewaskomla and friend me on Facebook.