Manitoba deficit for this fiscal year to drop to $470M

Manitoba is expecting a smaller pool of red inkat the end of this fiscal year based on savings in almost every department.

The province expects to wrap up the 2018-19 fiscal year, which ends on March 31, with a $470-million deficit, according to figures from the end of December.

The projected deficit is $51 million less than the Progressive Conservative government expected last spring, when the budget for the year called for a $521-million deficit.

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Finance Minister Scott Fielding attributed the results in part to savings in health care, whichis projected to wind up $240 million under budget by the end of the year.

"We're seeing real results and we're managing the health-care system more effectively," Fielding said.

Health Minister Cameron Friesensaid those savings are not coming at the expense of the quality of health care, something his government has been saying since fall.

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Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinewrejected that claim, arguing the province is making health care "worse than it's ever been" by underfunding it.

"The real impact is to make the health care system more chaotic than ever for the people who work in it and to ensure there'sa lower quality of care delivered to the patients who need it," Kinew told reporters.

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamontsaid in a statement the PC government is ignoring a worsening economy marked by job losses in the mining sector and reducing infrastructure spending.

On Thursday, Fielding will present the province's budget for 2019-20. He refused to say whether it will include the one percentage point cut in provincial sales tax his government has promised since it was elected in 2016.

Fielding said the PST cut will come before the next provincial election but he is not sure now is the right time to make it happen.

The province would forgo about $300 million in revenue by eliminating one percentage point of the PST. Asked whether that would be a fiscally sound move, Fielding said Manitobans are about to pay more in federal carbon taxes and municipal property taxes.