New funding in Manitoba budget likely not enough to please disenchanted voters

Aprovincial budget with asprinklingof new financial commitments will probably not be enough to win over critics of Premier Heather Stefanson'sgovernment on its own.

Manitobans will want measurable results if the Progressive Conservatives,lagging considerably in opinion polls,are to regain their footing.

Votersmay not be swayed by Tuesday's budget promising $110 million to help clear the massive surgical backlog but they could be won overif their mothergets thehip surgery she's waited two years for.

They won't be as impressed with a politician declaring$9 million to boostintensive care capacity as they would be if they could feel certaintheir loved one will never be transferred toa hospital hours away from home.

It may beatall ask of thisgovernment to win these voters back,but regaining someone's trust is rarely easy.

On Tuesday, the Progressive Conservativegovernment took a step in that direction with a budget that aimed to please just about everyone.

Health care a top focus in budget

The spending plan will shoreup arguably the government's biggest weakness through the pandemichealth care with new funding. It also promised additionalsupports for long-term care, an area conspicuously absent from cash infusions inlast year's budget.

The 2022 spending planwill extendtax relief for scores of Manitobans, ranging frombig businesses with many employeesto property owners andlow-income renters.

Christopher Adams, adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, noted he couldn't find a new tax or a fee increase within the budget papers.

"It's a fairly friendly budget for Manitobans," he told CBC Manitoba's Up to Speed guest host MarjorieDowhoson Tuesday.

The budget isn't all things to all people, of course. Unions and labour groups say the budget misses spending in vital areas, but it appears the budget does not intentionallyantagonize people in the same way as the tight-fisted, sometimes controversialapproach of Stefanson's predecessor, Brian Pallister, did.

The province can boost spending by $466 million (a 2.4 per cent increase) this year, all while slashingits forecastdeficit by more than $1 billion, largely because of the federal government, which continues to pour more money into Manitoba.

The province is helped tremendously through a $610 million increase in transfers from Ottawafora total of $6.25 billion.

Neither Stefansonnor Finance Minister Cameron Friesenwould volunteer to praise the federal government, but it gavethem the means to consider other priorities specifically,tax relief.

They were both asked if a budget designed to help Manitoba recover from a debilitating health and economic crisis should come with tax cuts

The premier noted the government would now take until 2023, rather than 2022, tocut the education property tax from the 25 per cent reduction that took effect in 2021to50 per cent.

"We did that for a reason because we're still in very difficult times, but we think we can walk and chew gum at the same time," Stefansonsaid, the latter an expressionsometimes used by Pallister.

"We can make those significant investments in health care to tackle those diagnostic and surgical backlogs, as well as providing money to put back into the pockets of Manitobans."

Interestingly enough, thenew money towardhealth care funding ($105 million) andthe surgical backlog ($110 million)is less than the total money the province expects to forgo in 2022 throughthe education property tax rebate ($350 million).

Meanwhile,Friesensaid too many people assume a government is a "one-speed bicycle," that can only accomplish one financial priority at a time.

"We simply think it's not correct to make Manitobans wait. We think that they need relief now. They need affordability now."

Budget doesn't combat gas prices

Despite vowing in his budget speech to combat "shockingly high" gas prices, Friesen's spending plandoesn't come close. The government will cut vehicle registration fees by $10 annually, which will barely help a driver to fill their tank, even once.

The province also isn't using soaring pricesat the pump to push Winnipeggersonto transit buses, as nonew money was promised. Manitobabacked out of the long-standing 50-50 funding arrangement with the city to fundWinnipeg Transit several years ago.

The budgetcontinues the Tories' reluctance to spend any considerable money onheeding the warnings on climate change. The biggest new initiative in 2022 is $50 million to clean up abandoned mines, which will have no remarkableimpact on emissions.

When speaking with reporters, Stefanson said she sawher first budget as premier as "calming the waters," after a tumultuouspandemic shook up the province.

The public may desire such calmness afterPallister's time as premier, but a government trailingin the polls will likely need to makewaves, particularly in the areaof health care, to be re-elected in the fall of2023.

A singular budget won't save a government that's treading water.