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Budget 2014: A Focused Plan to Create Good Jobs, Grow the Economy, Protect Front-line Services for Families

March 6, 2014

Budget 2014 Delivers More Opportunities for Our Kids to Build a Future in Manitoba: Minister Howard

Budget 2014 is a balanced plan to create good jobs and more opportunities for young people to build their futures in Manitoba, while keeping life affordable and protecting the front-line services families count on, Finance Minister Jennifer Howard announced today.

“What I want for my child is the same thing all parents want, and that’s good opportunities that allow our kids to build a great life right here at home,” said Minister Howard.  “This budget is focused on what matters most to Manitoba families, investing in their priorities like infrastructure, education and training.  These investments will create good jobs and grow our economy.”

Highlights of Budget 2014 include more apprenticeship and training opportunities to help grow Manitoba’s workforce by 75,000 by 2020 and a five-year plan to invest $5.5 billion in core infrastructure to improve the province’s roads, bridges, flood protection and municipal infrastructure and create tens of thousands of jobs.  The minister said these investments will be made as the government continues to make steady progress on its plan to restore budget balance by 2016-17.

“We will continue to reject calls for reckless, across-the-board cuts that would return us to a time when our roads, hospitals and schools were falling apart, front-line nurses and teachers were put out of work, and our young people were leaving for opportunities elsewhere,” said Minister Howard.  “We’ve chosen a different path, one that creates jobs and keeps our economy growing steadily through uncertain times while keeping life affordable and protecting the services Manitoba families count on.”

The minister noted an independent analysis conducted by the Conference Board of Canada that projects Manitoba’s $5.5-billion investment in core infrastructure will create 58,900 jobs, boosting the province’s economy by $6.3 billion and increasing exports by $5.4 billion.

The minister also highlighted new measures in Budget 2014 aimed at achieving further administrative savings to be reinvested in front-line services for families including the extension of corporate administrative spending caps to all regional health authorities and the creation of a lean council tasked with providing advice to government on new ways to offer better services more efficiently across government departments.

“Manitobans expect and deserve excellent public services and they expect government to use their tax dollars wisely to ensure these services are delivered as efficiently as possible,” said the minister.  “By modernizing the way we do business we will continue to find ways to keep our costs low.”

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Budget 2014

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