Provincial 2024 budget focused on health-care, cost of living

by Staff - April 2, 2024 60
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Budget 2024 delivers on the government’s commitments to rebuild health care across Manitoba and lower costs for families, Premier Wab Kinew and Finance Minister Adrien Sala announced today.

“Six months ago, Manitobans put their trust in our government to rebuild health care and lower costs for families,” said Kinew. “Our first budget delivers on those commitments by hiring 1,000 new health-care workers and delivering cost savings for Manitoba families with a $1,500 Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit. We’re strengthening our province’s economy, with help for you and help for those who need it most.”

Budget 2024 makes record investments in health care, with a plan to hire 100 doctors, 210 nurses, 90 paramedics and 600 health care aides over the next year, and investments to retain and train even more. It adds hospital and ICU beds, and opens new Minor Injury and Illness clinics and primary care clinics so more Manitobans can see a doctor when they need one.

The premier noted it is a budget that will help take better care of seniors, invests in better health care for rural and northern communities, takes action to improve cancer care in Manitoba, and will help modernize health records and bring in plastic health cards for Manitobans. Budget 2024 builds on the government’s commitment to listen to and work together with health-care workers and staff up the health-care system with more doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, paramedics, allied health professionals and midwives. The budget more than doubles capital funding in health care, with money to begin the work to open the Victoria and Eriksdale emergency rooms.

The minister added Budget 2024 saves Manitobans money by extending the gas tax holiday, providing renters and seniors with increased tax credits, expanding $10-a-day child care, providing free birth control, increasing funding for fertility treatment and providing rebates for electric vehicles.

This budget will also make communities healthier and safer, Sala noted, with a $116 million investment in building and maintaining social and affordable housing, and investments in pools and community centres across the province.

Budget 2024 will grow Manitoba’s economy, with more good jobs for Manitobans and a plan to ensure Manitoba’s agriculture can thrive, feeding Manitoba and the world.

“The previous government left us with a huge mess to clean up – a historic deficit, a health-care system that’s been badly hurt by seven years of cuts, and a failure to strengthen our economy or support families who were struggling with years of rising costs,” said Sala. “We’re different. We’re making smart, targeted investments. We can take steps to fix health care and lower costs, and we can do it while being responsible with public money and charting a path back to balance. That’s what Manitobans can expect from our first budget.”

Budget 2024 makes targeted, strategic investments to make life better for Manitoba families, with a focus on:

  • rebuilding health care,
  • lowering costs for families,
  • healthier families and safer communities,
  • growing our economy, and
  • a government that works for you.

More information about Budget 2024 can be found at www.manitoba.ca/budget2024.

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