Manitoba premier expects provincial deficit to drop below $400M in 2019-20
Brian Pallister says province has found more efficiencies
Premier Brian Pallister says Manitoba will post a deficit of less than $400 million in the coming fiscal year, allowing the provincial Progressive Conservative government to inch closer to its goal of shaving a percentage point off the provincial sales tax.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Pallister said he expects the province to post less red ink in 2019-20 than it expected at budget time a year ago.
The premier told Bloomberg the province achieved this by reducing travel and vehicle costs and by streamlining the tender process.
"We have found a lot of waste, a lot of overlap, a lot of duplication that has allowed us to bend the cost curve," Pallister said in a Feb. 15 interview.
Last year at budget time, the province expected to post a $549-million deficit in 2019-20. The Pallister government has pledged to post a surplus by 2024, even after a provincial-sales-tax reduction from the current eight per cent to seven per cent.
That cut is expected to cost the province approximately $300 million a year.
The Progressive Conservative government declined to elaborate on the premier's comments.
Last fall, Auditor General Norm Ricard said he had "significant concerns" with the way the province expressed its financial statements, noting the size of the provincial deficit was inflated by the removal of the Workers Compensation Board from the books as well as a transfer to a trust account.
Manitoba's opposition leaders also criticized the PC government for failing to grow the provincial economy.
NDP Leader Wab Kinew said Wednesday Pallister is reducing deficits by cutting health care and education. Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said Pallister is benefiting from increased federal transfers.
The province will table its 2019-20 budget on March 7.
