While life gets more expensive for families, seniors are transported hours away for care, and wait times at Winnipeg ERs hit record highs, Premier Stefanson’s first budget failed to deliver the solutions families need.  

“Manitobans are looking for hope. With her first budget Premier Stefanson had the chance to deliver it but she failed to meet the moment,” said Wab Kinew, Leader of the Manitoba NDP. “Instead of setting herself apart from Brian Pallister, she repeated his mistakes by underfunding health care and schools. Instead of making life more affordable, she’s raising hydro rates at the cabinet table and pushing through tax hikes on renters. While the PCs continue to make life harder for families, the NDP will fix health care and put families first.” 

Premier Stefanson’s first budget continues Brian Pallister’s legacy of underfunding health care with a de facto cut to hospitals, ERs and frontline workers, and it does not set a timeline to clear the surgical backlog. The budget does nothing to improve life for seniors by failing to build a single care home bed and refusing to give health care aides a new contract.  

“We know this isn’t the budget Manitobans wanted,” said Nahanni Fontaine, NDP House Leader. “But our team won’t give up on a better future. We won’t let hallway and highway medicine become the norm. We’ll keep listening to families and communities, and together we’ll fight back against PC cuts.”