Manitoba's NDP Budget 2025 Meets the Moment by Building Schools and Hospitals to Keep our Economy Strong
Budget 2025 invests a record $3.7 billion in capital projects, noted Sala, which includes new schools, emergency rooms (ERs) and personal care homes, and critical infrastructure to keep Manitoba’s economy moving.
"I think the first reaction from most of us on the official opposition side was, 'Was that it?' shares Grant Jackson, MLA for Spruce Woods and the Official Opposition Progressive Conservative Critic for Education and Early Childhood Learning.
"This was one of the shortest budget speeches that many of more experienced members in the Chamber than me can ever remember, and that's deeply concerning to most Manitobans I've talked to that were in attendance today or that were listening in online because we're in some pretty complicated and challenging times right now," shares Jackson.
"And the fact that the government of the day, the Kinew government didn't have a robust and detailed plan, particularly when it comes to the economic response that we're going to need for President Trump's tariffs, whether they come or not, is deeply concerning," he adds.
Pertinent issues to Jackson's riding of Spruce Woods include affordability, rising crime rates, infrastructure and healthcare.
"I'm not sure that Westman was mentioned a single time in the minister's brief speech, which is incredibly disappointing and the only thing they had for Brandon, the Wheat City was two new schools that were previously proposed and promised by the Progressive Conservative government," he adds. "So, there was very little to nothing for anything west of Portage and I would agree with my colleague's assessment that all of rural Manitoba was forgotten in Budget 2025 by the Kinew government.
"Rural crime rates are on the rise and that was not mentioned at all," says Jackson.
"They made a brief commitment to adding a few more police officers to the city of Winnipeg Police Service, and that was the only thing they mentioned in with respect to measures to combat crime. So, obviously, Winnipeg police officers do not service rural Manitoba, so no new initiatives to combat rising rural crime. Very disappointed in that," adds Jackson.
"And with respect to rural health care, there were no commitments in terms of keeping Westman emergency rooms open," he says. "No funding commitments for the new medical school that they proposed for Brandon University to train doctors in Western Manitoba, it wasn't mentioned. So, I would say that Westman healthcare was missed by this government."
"On affordability, they announced that they're increasing their tax credit for property owners from $1500 up $100 to $1600. You know, if we're seeing double digit tax increases to the school property tax in Turtle Mountain School Division and many others, which is resulting in, you know, several $100 if not close to $1000 increases on people's school taxes this year. So, $100 extra on the rebate really isn't cutting it and this is not the time when Manitobans jobs and companies and businesses are threatened by the American president."
"This is not a time for Manitobans to be paying higher taxes," adds Jackson.
Manitoba's highways and roadways were not addressed in yesterday's budget either, this being of concern to Jackson who still has a number of highways that were on the books with the previous government that have yet to be addressed, including Hwy #2, Hwy #34, and Hwy #5.
"These [highways] need significant investments from the department of Manitoba's infrastructure department and the budget speech was entirely silent on dollar figures that this government is going to be addressing and investing in infrastructure," he adds.
Please listen to more with Grant Jackson below on yesterday's budget.
"This is a time when we need specifics, and we need details," says Jackson, "and this Kinew government did not step up to the plate."
Over the next 6 days MLA's will be debating the 2025 budget at length beginning this morning at 10 am in the Manitoba Legislature.