The provincial budget - health care, education, child poverty, the environment, entrepreneurship and competitiveness

The provincial budget, presented on Monday, brought in very large spending increases - some $555 million more than last year. But given the track record of the NDP recently, we must question how much more than this they will end up spending by the end of the year. In 2002, they went $10 million over budget. By 2004, they were $164 million over budget and last year they were $275 million over budget.




The NDP budget plans to take $69 million from the rainy day fund (the fiscal stabilization fund). It is bad policy to be planning, already, to take so much from the fiscal stabilization fund. The money in this fund should be kept so there is a reserve for emergencies during the year. If the NDP go over budget as they did last year, they will have to take considerably more than this from the rainy day fund by the end of the year.






Health Care:


The health care budget is increased by $217 million. This means that, on an annual basis, health care expenditures are now $1.5 billion a year more than when the NDP were first elected.

You have to ask yourself how it is that with these huge increases in expenditures Manitoba was rated last in health care by an exhaustive report by the Conference Board of Canada (see my note http://www.manitobaliberals.ca/2006/03/health-care-in-manitoba-getting-worse.html )

Waiting lists continue to be far too long and the problem remains out of control in Manitoba. The NDP, in many respects, continue to lurch from crisis to crisis. If it is not one community in crisis and short of doctors it is another. With a six year history of poor health care management in Manitoba, it is time to change the approach. It is time to overhaul the management approach and the RHAs to give us much better service and accountability than we have now.



Healthy Living and Wellness:


While the health care budget for treating those who are sick went up by $212 million, the budget for keeping people healthy rose by only 2.4% of this, or $5.4 million. Clearly the government is giving a low priority to keeping people healthy. There are no targets for reducing the incidence of diabetes or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders for example, and not even clearly articulated plans with expected outcomes. Instead of acting solely to give recreation tax breaks for the few, Liberals would have ensured all children in school have adequate daily quality physical education. Instead of focusing solely on buying 1000 new bike helmets, Liberals would have made the use of bicycle helmets mandatory for those riding bicycles (as it is in most other provinces). Instead of focusing solely on gardening initiatives in the north, Liberals would have brought in legislation to have the same price for milk all over the province. In short, the NDP plans for Healthy Living fall far short of what we need. One result is that we will continue to spend huge amounts more each year in treating the illness and sickness that we have failed to prevent in the first place.



Health Care Research:


The centre point for funding of provincial health research is through the Manitoba Health Research Council. Funding for the Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC) is budgeted at $1.95 million for 2006/07, exactly the same number as last year, and almost exactly the same as was provided in 1992. In relative terms the MHRC budget has decreased drastically compared to overall health care spending. The NDP lack an understanding of how important health research is to improving the quality of health care in Manitoba. Instead of flat lining health care research like the NDP, Liberals would make this a priority and ensure that research efforts are front and centre in the renewal and improvement of the quality and cost of health care in Manitoba.
 
Primary and Secondary Education:
The NDP have removed the Education Special Levy. Good. But, there is two problems with the NDP approach. First, each year under the NDP, the province has provided a smaller proportion of education funding which means that local school boards must provide a larger proportion of education funding and local property taxes go up. Offloading onto local property taxpayers is not a good idea. Liberals would ensure that 80% of primary and secondary education funding is provided by the province which would very significantly reduce local property taxes.

The second problem in reducing the proportion of primary and secondary education funded provincially, is that it gives rise to greater and greater inequities in education around the province. Different areas have different capabilities to raise funds through property taxes and this means that education in some areas of Manitoba is much less well supported finanacially than in other areas and that children in the poorly funded areas suffer in the quality of their education. This is another reason why Liberals would move to 80% funding of primary and secondary education from the province.

Post-secondary education
The increase in provincial funding for post-secondary education is welcome, but the overall policy of the NDP with respect to post-secondary education funding is poor. Liberals see a need to increase tuition with a cap on increases at the rate of inflation. Students benefit from the education and it is only appropriate that they share in the yearly cost increases. Increased revenue from tuition as well as government grants would allow post-secondary education institutions to maintain high standards which are badly need in today's world.

Child poverty


Last year's budget had provided what was called Paper F - to look at some of the issues around poverty in Manitoba. What was shown was that single working parents with children earning $22,500 a year are paying effective marginal tax rates of 60% (this means that single mothers with children are sometimes having to pay 60 cents of every dollar earned to the government in taxes). This is a higher rate than the most wealthy in society. Is this right? No is what we say as Liberals. We would change this so single mothers with children are not paying a higher proportion in taxes than the most wealthy in our society.



This year, the NDP did not even include a section on looking at poverty. One can only conclude they are not interested. It was embarrassing for them last year to show what is happening. The NDP approach to poverty in Manitoba was and is inadequate.
 
The environment:
 
I will look particularly at the budget as it applies to two lakes - Lake Winnipeg and Kississing Lake.




For Lake Winnipeg, there is some additional funding, but we have not been provided with an action plan with clear timelines and outcomes. The budget is far short of what should have been provided. For years now, the NDP have talked about Lake Winnipeg, and while they have been talking the phosphorous levels and algal blooms have got worse not better.



Kississing Lake in northern Manitoba has one of the most polluted sites in Canada. Vast mine tailings from the Sherridon mine continue to leach into Kississing Lake, and will continue to leach and cause continuing problems until action is taken. The NDP budget provides some funding for water treatment for Sherridon, but it does absolutely nothing with respect to containing the waste and preventing continued leaching let alone do any clean up. As such the NDP budget fails completely.
 
Infrastructure for roads and drainage:
 
Monday's budget announced some increase in funding for roads. What the budget did not do is to provide an improved management approach to ensure that the funds are spent as wisely as possible. What the budget did not do is present a several year plan to ensure that Manitoba's roads are well maintained. These are matters that Liberals would have attended to.




Anyone who has driven recently around Manitoba knows there has been a serious shortfall in this regard under the NDP. Indeed, the poor road maintenance is costing truckers, farmers and others dearly because too many important roads are not kept up to the standards they should be at.



The NDP have increased the budget for drainage from $1.9 million to $3.8 million. The budget should have included both drainage and water storage (as is happening on South Tobacco Creek), so we have a balance in the efforts being made in both areas. The new budget remains drastically short of what is needed to ensure farmlands are protected from heavy rains, and if we have a situation like last year, we will once again have huge losses. The NDP approach in this area is fundamentally inadequate.
 
Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness:
Sadly, the NDP do not well understand the need to have a really good climate for private sector investment in Manitoba in order to support the growth of jobs and our economy.




Instead of a rather bland effort in this respect in Monday's budget, Liberals would have acted to reduce the job killing payroll tax and to provide the plan to eliminate it over a several year period.