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On April 17, 2012, the provincial budget was handed down. In the current climate of cut throat budgets that are delivered by many other provinces and Western nations, the Manitoba government should be commended for finding ways to limit cutbacks. Citing flooding, which resulted in a 1.2 billion dollar deficit last year, and the third consecutive year of flat federal transfer rates, the government has managed to largely maintain the status quo in most spending areas. While Health, Education and Family Services saw modest increases, spending in Housing and Community Development remained level.
The impacts for women, both good and bad, are as much about what wasn’t included in the budget, as what was. Here are some of the ways women can expect to be impacted by this year’s budget.
1. There will be modest increases to child care funding alongside an increase to parent fees. This means child care centres will have more money to provide quality services. New child care centres are being built and others expanded, which will translate into more child care spaces. There is also an increase to the rate at which people can apply for child care subsidies, which means more families will qualify.
2. There is no new funding earmarked for affordable housing. The province maintains its commitment to 1500 new social housing and rental units across the province over five years. The need for quality affordable housing is consistently the number one priority named by women in Manitoba and without more rent geared to income housing, the number of homeless and invisible homeless women will continue to climb.
3. Justice saw an increase to its operating budget. This is not for infrastructure development – that money will come from other places - but rather for operations. An increase here suggests the government is invested more in the management of crime after it happens, rather than the prevention of it. At the same time there is no new funding for housing or community development, both of which address the root causes of crime. Funding to family violence prevention programs also remains flat, leaving women’s centres and crisis shelters operating with limited resources.
4. Increases will be made to gas taxes (2.5 cents per litre) on May 1, 2012 and this revenue will be targeted towards public transit and infrastructure. This is the first increase of this kind in 20 years and is good news for the environment. This places the burden of road ways and infrastructure on the primary users of it. However this will disproportionately affect rural dwellers, who can't benefit from public transit and can’t avoid driving.
5. Minimum wage will see an increase of 25 cents on October 1, 2012. This is good news, as women remain the majority of minimum wage earners, though this rate still falls short of what is needed to support a family.
6. The personal income tax exemption has been increased by $250. While this provides a modest savings to all Manitobans, regardless of their income level, and drops 22,000 people off the tax rolls, it represents $19.3 million dollars in lost revenue for the province. That’s more than would have been needed to increase the Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) shelter subsidy to 75% of the mean market rental rates (currently those on EIA receive about half of the average rental fee). Or to provide all EIA recipients with a telephone or a monthly bus pass. Two thirds of the people living on EIA are single mothers and people living with disabilities and an improvement to their quality of life, however modest, would have been money better spent.
7. There is a modest increase to corporate taxes for share holders. This is a small source of revenue that impacts only those in higher income brackets. More needs to be done to move towards a more progressive tax structure.
8. There is an increase in funding to universities and colleges and a cap on tuition increases so that they cannot exceed the rate of inflation. New strategies are being developed to increase training and apprenticeship opportunities in rural and northern Manitoba. This will hopefully lead to more equitable access to education and training for women throughout Manitoba.
9. The government has sought out strategies to reduce government spending, which include the combining of several Regional Health Authorities (from eleven to five), the merging of the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission and the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation, and the freezing or roll back of salaries for Ministers and MLAs. These measures will reduce the government’s administrative costs and provide some of the money needed to fund the modest increases that were included in the budget.
10. Sadly, the poverty reduction strategy presented by the province reflects work already done. There are few forward looking goals and while the government lists what they will track as indicators of progress, there is no statement on what they will achieve.
While many are calling for further tax cuts, it is the dollars raised by taxes that pay for the programs that all Manitobans depend on. Since 1999, the tax cuts made by the NDP government have amounted to 1.2 billion dollars in lost revenue. That is just about equal to the size of the deficit that the province is now carrying. Even factoring in last year’s flood, the province could have been in a surplus financial situation, had those cuts not been made.
The province remains focused on balancing the budget by the 2014/15 fiscal year. However, we believe the financial deficit is well in hand. The real problem facing Manitobans is the human deficit in our province. One in five children in Manitoba is still living in poverty – this means their mothers are as well. Without comprehensive strategies to address poverty and inequality, we will continue to see crime rates rise and Manitoba families struggle to make ends meet.
Women need to continue to make their voices heard by government and to keep pushing for a more equitable, socially responsible budget.
**Thanks to fellow members of the Make Poverty History campaign for helping us compile this list. |
