Manitoba PCs claim NDP government is slashing capital spending

Manitoba's Progressive Conservative opposition claims the NDP government is cutting back on capital spending on the basis of a months-old report from a credit rating agency.

The province's finance ministerinsists nothing of the sort is happening and blames the conclusion on what he calls a mischaracterization in the spring credit rating from S+P Global.

In that report, tabled in the Manitoba Legislature in May, the credit rating agency said "the government has cut the capital program by about 40 per centto make it more sustainable, with a focus on maintenance."

A 40 per cent cut in capital spending that is, spending onbuildings, roads, equipment, information technology and other one-time costs would amount to more than $1 billion.

On Thursday, interim PC leader Wayne Ewasko said since credit rating agencies base their reports on data provided by the province, this is clear evidence ofdrastic spending cuts taking place to pay for a spending spree by the NDP government.

Finance Minister Adrien Sala said this is not the case and repeated something he and his government have been saying since the NDP was elected last fall that the new government has "right-sized" capital spending plans by cancelling projects announced by the PCs during the waning months of former premier Heather Stefanson's government.

"A lot of the announcements that they made in hopes of staying in government really led Manitobans on, but they weren't planned for and they had absolutely no plan to pay for them," Sala said in his office on Thursday.

Ewasko insisted he will be vindicated in his claim in the coming weeks, when Manitoba Finance starts publishing statements detailing spending during the period after the NDP took power.

"Mr. Kinew is a benefactor of a stable credit rating but moving forward,when we get into public accounts in the next short while, that's all going to be on Wab Kinew and the NDP government," he said.

The S+P Global report also said Manitoba is on track to post a modest operating surplus in 2025. Sala said that is not going to happen and repeated his intent to balance the provincial budget during the final year of Kinew's first term.