Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press

The Manitoba government is starting a review of personal and business taxes with the aim of becoming more competitive with other provinces.

While Manitoba has been recording annual deficits almost every year since 2009 and is facing demands to spend more money on health care, the Progressive Conservative government said a more competitive tax regime would attract more businesses and boost provincial coffers.

"The way we will improve education and social services, health care, is by growing our economy," Premier Heather Stefanson said Wednesday.

Manitoba's Opposition New Democrats will improve health care, keep electricity rates low and simultaneously reduce the deficit if they win the next election, leader Wab Kinew said Sunday at the end of the party's annual convention.

But details on how that might be achieved will only be revealed closer to the provincial election slated for next October.

Manitoba's Opposition New Democrats will consider banning replacement workers during strikes and lockouts if they win the election slated for next October, leader Wab Kinew said Saturday.

"I think the argument makes a lot of sense that if you go out on strike, you shouldn't be replaced on your job, but what I think needs to happen now is that we need to educate Manitobans about this topic," Kinew said Saturday after delegates at the party's annual convention unanimously passed a resolution on the issue.

The Manitoba government needs to better protect its information systems from internal misuse and outside attacks, the provincial auditor general said Thursday.

Tyson Shtykalo's 21-page report focused on system administrators and other people with deep access to systems in a few departments that contain personal, corporate and health information. The audit ran from 2018 to March of this year.

The report says password requirements are not strong enough in some areas.

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson says she is not planning legislation to push back against the federal government over areas of jurisdiction, as Alberta and Saskatchewan are planning.

Stefanson says she is worried to some extent about Ottawa reaching into provincial areas, but she could not name an example and says there has been no discussion yet about such legislation in the province.

Stefanson says one area where she would like to see change from the federal government is on carbon pricing.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are bidding to host the Canadian Football League Grey Cup championship in either 2024 or 2025, and the Manitoba government is offering up to $5.5 million to help the bid.

Winnipeg is a natural choice, given the club's back-to-back wins in the last two championships, Premier Heather Stefanson said.

She expects the economic benefits to outweigh the cost, and said city hall is expected to offer up to $1.5 million.

First Nations leaders are suing the federal and Manitoba governments over what they say are far-reaching, damaging effects of the child welfare system.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and other plaintiffs are seeking $1 billion in compensation and an end to apprehensions they say are often based on poverty and racial bias. 

They hope to have the lawsuit certified as a class action for children and their relatives, as well as communities, affected by apprehensions in the province since 1992.

Winnipeg police announced charges against five more people Wednesday, a day after dismantling a protest camp on the north lawn of the Manitoba legislature near the main entrance to the building.

They also explained their decision to take down the camp after leaving it since it was set up in June.

"What we saw was an erosion of co-operation and an increase in both rhetoric and aggression, and a complete unwillingness to be reasonable around restricting expansion of the camp," said Dave Dalal, superintendent of uniform operations for the Winnipeg Police Service.

Winnipeg police stopped an attempt by protesters Monday to enlarge an encampment that has been on the front lawn of the legislature for months, while the provincial government confirmed that some people attached to the camp have been recently arrested.

The encampment was set up in spring and has been adorned with signs and flags highlighting a variety of issues, from the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools to COVID-19 restrictions to conflict in the Middle East.

A rebounding economy and higher federal transfer payments helped cut Manitoba's deficit by more than half, government fiscal numbers released Thursday show.

The deficit for the fiscal year that ended in March came in at $704 million, down from $1.6 billion originally predicted in the budget and from $2.1 billion the previous year. The numbers were contained in Public Accounts, the annual final tally of budget numbers reviewed by the auditor general.