Health care and making life more affordable for Manitobans were key points in the 2024 Manitoba budget.
Finance minister Adrian Sala introduced what the NDP government is calling "21 new ways to save".
"A broad, middle class tax cut, a 15-hundred dollar tax credit for homeowners, and no school property taxes for families that need the most help. A tax credit for renters, a tax credit for seniors, and 10 dollars a day child care for every day of the year."
That plan also includes lower insurance rates, rebates for home and business security systems, and an increase to the minimum wage.
On the health care side, Sala says the health workforce in Manitoba will grow significantly this year.
"This year, we are hiring 1,000 health ccare workers. 100 doctors, 90 paramedics, 210 nurses, and 600 Health Care Aides."
The province also announced that construction of a new Emergency department in Eriksdale is being included in this budget.
Sala also promised to balance the province's books within the NDP government's first term in office.
"We have inherited a historic deficit from the previous government. We are starting with a health care system that is broken by seven years of cuts and chaos, as well as coming out of years of rising costs, and people are struggling. There are those that will say that this budget is too ambitious, but it is for those reasons that it needs to be ambitious. We can fix health care and make life more affordable and we can do it while charting a path back to balance in four years."
