'Shovels in the ground' for new Winnipeg ER within 2 years, Kinew promises as Manitoba NDP delivers 1st budget

Manitoba is facing a nearly $800-million deficit for the year ahead, as the first budget under the NDP government promises incremental progress on a number of election commitments, along with new tax relief geared toward lower-income households.

The Manitoba government's 2024 budget, released Tuesday, pledges to double the province's spending on health-care infrastructure — including beginning the process of building a new emergency room at Winnipeg's Victoria Hospital.

It also promises to extend the provincial gas tax holiday by another three months and introduce changes to the education property tax next year that will essentially eliminate the tax for some homeowners, but see the owners of higher-valued homes pay more.

A total of $635 million is budgeted for health-sector capital projects, including starting the process of opening a new Victoria ER, along with an emergency room in the Interlake community of Eriksdale and a new CancerCare headquarters — all NDP election promises.

However, the budget doesn't offer a timeline for any of those projects, though Premier Wab Kinew, speaking during an early afternoon briefing with reporters, said he expects "shovels in the ground" for Victoria's ER within two years.

That south Winnipeg emergency room was converted into an urgent care centre in 2017, under what the then Progressive Conservative government called the "most significant change in the health-care system in a generation."

Tuesday's budget also promises $2.5 million this fiscal year toward planning a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg's North Main area, and $500,000 for starting an inquiry into the construction of the Winnipeg police headquarters, but no start or completion date is provided for those initiatives either.

The government is pledging a total of $1.4 billion more in spending across the board — a six per cent increase over the last budget. In particular, the health department will get an extra $980 million in spending, for a total of $8.2 billion.

Finance Minister Adrien Sala said those spending increases are appropriate, even as his government tries to slay a forecast deficit for the previous fiscal year of nearly $2 billion.

"There are those who will say this budget is too ambitious — but it's for those reasons it needs to be ambitious," Sala said, while reading his budget speech.

He maintained the government can fix health care and make life more affordable, while also charting a path back to a balanced budget in four years.

"And if anyone, if anyone tries to tell you it can't be done — we're going to prove them wrong. Just watch us."

The province is assuming its books will be supported by an extra $960 million in revenue. Tax revenues are projected to increase, including $152 million in added PST revenues due to an expectation of higher consumer spending. Federal transfers will rise by just under $1 billion, to a total of $6.9 billion.

The biggest winner in the $24.1-billion provincial budget is health care, which the NDP made the focus of last fall's election campaign.