Month: March 2018

Plan is to make Manitoba the cleanest and greenest province
Our government’s Manitoba Climate and Green Plan supports our vision to make Manitoba the cleanest and greenest province in Canada, and we have proposed legislation to make this vision a reality.
The Climate and Green Plan Implementation Act provides a made-in-Manitoba blueprint for a prosperous green economy and for protection of our water and ecosystems, while addressing climate change. The legislation includes a flat carbon price of $25 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions, all of which will be returned to Manitobans in tax cuts during the next four years. The Manitoba carbon levy will be half of the federal carbon tax of $50 per tonne, will apply to fuel products and will be administered through the existing fuel tax system when it takes effect on Sept. 1, 2018.
Emissions limits for regulated industrial facilities will be part of the legislation, and operators will be held accountable if they exceed them. However, the Manitoba carbon levy will not apply to marked fuel products or specific uses of propane in farming, mining, commercial fishing and forestry. Certain operations of hospitals and municipalities will also be exempt.
All revenue from the levy will remain in Manitoba to be spent on Manitobans’ priorities, and will be fully recycled back to households over the next four years through tax relief that’s unprecedented in our province. With Budget 2018, we are raising the basic personal exemption on income tax by $1,010 in 2019 with a plan for another $1,010 increase in 2020, for a tax cut of $155 million. We are also raising the small business tax threshold to $500,000, delivering a $7-million tax reduction. And our government will return more than $300 million to Manitobans when we reduce the retail sales tax to seven per cent by 2020.
The Manitoba carbon price will achieve more reductions in emissions than the federal carbon tax and will stimulate innovation and jobs, balancing our environmental and economic realities. Our levy will create new initiatives including a $40-million Climate and Green Fund for projects such as energy efficiency, active transportation and wetland restoration, as well as an advisory council on adapting to climate change.
With Budget 2018, our government has also established the $102-million Conservation Trust for future green projects.
Keeping with our vision for a cleaner and greener province, our Climate and Green Plan will strengthen Manitoba’s economy and sustain our environment for generations to come.
Greg Nesbitt is the Member of Legislative Assembly for the Riding Mountain constituency. He can be reached at 204-759-3313, toll-free 1-844-877-7767 or by email at gregnesbittmla@mymts.net.

Budget 2018 gives Manitobans the break they deserve
Manitobans deserve a break and our government is providing that break.
Budget 2018 will bring tax relief while continuing to protect the services you depend on each day.
The budget, delivered March 12 by Finance Minister Cameron Friesen, delivered the largest tax cut in Manitoba history, and, at the same time, will remove thousands of modest income Manitobans from the tax rolls. The tax cuts take money off the cabinet table and put it back on the kitchen table of every home in Manitoba.
Beginning in 2019, the basic personal exemption (the amount at which a person begins to pay income tax in Manitoba) will be increased to $10,392, followed by another increase in 2020 to $11,402. This higher exemption will save individuals $109 per year. By 2020, 31,600 more people will pay no Manitoba income tax.
Businesses will also see the threshold of income they can earn before they pay any Manitoba tax increased by $50,000 to $500,000. Strong businesses equal a strong economy.
These tax reductions are being accomplished while our government continues to reduce the deficit as promised. The 2018-19 deficit is budgeted to be $521 million – a full $319 million less than the budgeted 2017-18 deficit. This is a far cry from a projected deficit for 2018-19 of $1.6 billion if our PC government continued to spend at the rate of the former NDP government.
Our government understands that a strong education system today means a brighter future in Manitoba tomorrow. We will continue to invest by:
•increasing funding for Manitoba Education and Training by an additional $13.7 million – the highest amount spent on education in Manitoba history.
•providing an additional $6.6 million in funding for K-12 education.
•building five new schools, including one in Brandon.
•improving the Student Aid program by focusing on students who need the funding the most.
We recognize that healthcare is the number one priority for Manitobans. We will continue on our path of making healthcare sustainable for all Manitobans, while funding Manitoba Seniors, Health and Active Living at $6.2 billion – the highest level of funding in Manitoba history. As well we will:
•reduce ambulance fees to $340 as we move towards our election promise to drop them to $250 in our first term.
•add $7.7 million for expanding dialysis treatment.
•increase spending on the Home Cancer Drug Program by almost $14 million.
•create 60 full-time paramedic positions in communities across Manitoba.
Strong families are the foundation of Manitoba’s future. We will continue to support Manitoba households by:
•increasing funding to improve the quantity and quality of affordable housing by $9 million.
•supporting more than 700 new childcare spaces.
Agriculture, which employs over 33,000 Manitobans and generates approximately $6 billion in annual economic activity, received a boost in Budget 2018. We will:
•partner with the federal government to invest $178.6 million in strategic initiatives over the next five years.
•increase funding for the Farmland School Tax Rebate by $3.4 million.
There is no magic to reducing the Manitoba deficit while maintaining essential frontline services. We have asked all departments to control costs and reduce administration.
Massive layoffs and extreme chopping of essential services are just myths.
The fact is our government is spending nearly 10 percent more than the previous government on healthcare, education and social services.
And, only one-fifth of one percent of all core government employees have received layoff notices.
For example, when changes were announced to healthcare delivery in Winnipeg, approximately 2300 nurses were given ‘deletion’ notices as mandated in their union contracts. Of those 2300, 70 received layoff notices. Of those 70 people, 39 have been hired back to date.
Despite these facts, the management of the Manitoba Nurses Union continues to spend the dues of their members to create a climate of fear about the mythical cuts and layoffs instead of using their energy to be part of the change. Our government is continuing to spend a record amount on health care while continuing to make the necessary changes to improve outcomes today and to ensure sustainability for Manitobans into the future.
Our government’s plan to fix our province’s finances, repair our services and rebuild our economy is working – and when a plan is working, you stick with the plan!
Greg Nesbitt is a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Riding Mountain constituency. He can be reached at 204-759-3313, 1-844-877-7767 or gregnesbittmla@mymts.net

Meeting the needs of students and taxpayers
Our Manitoba government is increasing funding for school divisions again this year under a balanced approach to providing students with an improved, quality education while also creating efficiency and controlling costs. We are making decisions that best suit the needs of students, while considering the impacts on local school division ratepayers and taxpayers as we steer the province back onto a responsible fiscal track.
Our investment of $1.323 billion for 2018-19 provides strong support for school divisions with a year-over-year increase of $6.6 million. As well, we are boosting the Intensive Newcomers Support Contingency funding from $60,000 to $100,000 to assist divisions with new refugees or other high-needs students. Our government will also phase out the Tax Incentive Grant (TIG) over the next six years and adjust the grant to ensure school divisions receive at least 98 percent of last year’s operating and TIG support combined.
Our balanced approach to repairing the education system also requires finding efficiency within it. We are making school divisions more efficient by moving toward consolidated provincial bargaining, in a way that’s in the best interests of teachers, students and taxpayers. Currently, Manitoba is the only province where collective bargaining is conducted exclusively at the local level between each school board and its teachers’ association. Instead of 38 local collective agreements, Manitoba will have one provincial agreement – an important shift that will put teacher resources back on the front lines and in classrooms instead of around bargaining tables. Classrooms, after all, are where teachers want to be and where they are needed most.
We are committed to the best possible education for everyone from kindergarten to Grade 12. After 17 years of mismanagement under the previous NDP government, when Manitoba’s high-school dropout rate was the second-highest in Canada and scores in science, reading and math were the lowest among the provinces, we are carefully steering toward a quality education for all students. This improvement will involve a review of the K-12 system in early 2019, with public consultations across Manitoba on issues such as student outcomes, the role of school boards and taxation power.
However, while improving the public school system, it’s also imperative that we reduce its administrative costs that have increased by nine percent to $68.4 million in just the past three years. Our new mandate is to reduce administration expenses by 15 percent in the coming year, generating $2.1 million in savings for school divisions. As well, we expect divisions to limit their local education property tax increases to two percent for 2018-19.
The NDP failed to provide a quality education to Manitoba’s school-aged children. The direction we are taking is about a better use of time, a better use of resources and much better results for students across our province.

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The 3rd Session of the 41st Legislature will reconvene on Wednesday, March 7 at 1:30 p.m.
The Provincial Budget will be delivered by Minister of Finance Cameron Friesen on Monday, March 12 shortly after 1:30 p.m.
Greg Nesbitt is the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Riding Mountain constituency. He can be reached at 204-759-3313, 1-844-877-7767 or by email at gregnesbittmla@mymts.net.