By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, May 31 (Reuters) – Manitoba on Tuesday forecast a $911 million deficit for its 2016-17 budget, its eighth straight shortfall and the first since Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservatives won last month’s election.
Manitoba, whose economy depends on farming, manufacturing and mining, projected spending at $16.3 billion and revenue of $15.2 billion, both up 3 percent. The budget includes a $150 million cushion for unforeseen expenses.
Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said the government would balance its “principled and practical” budget in eight years, which would run into a second term in office.
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Manitoba’s fiscal year began April 1. The right-leaning Progressive Conservatives presented the budget later than usual after ousting Canada’s longest-serving provincial government, Greg Selinger’s New Democrats, in April.
For the 2015-16 fiscal year, which ended March 31, Manitoba ran a deficit of $1 billion.
Friesen said over time the government will lower taxes and cut spending. Pallister has promised to eventually reduce the sales tax to seven percent from eight percent.
Manitoba’s gross domestic product is forecast to grow 2.3 percent in 2016, third-best among provinces, on rising manufacturing shipments and brisk retail sales, according to TD Economics.
The province’s net debt, not including government-owned corporations such as its power company, was an estimated $21.4 billion on March 31, and is expected to rise to $23.1 billion a year later.
