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![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/3820072_web1_251215-Sala-MB-Finance2a-.jpg\")
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Ruth Bonneville \/ Free Press<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Adrien Sala presents Manitoba\u2019s second quarter financial report to the media at the Legislative Building in Winnipeg, Monday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Budget 2025, which projected a $794-million deficit in the spring, earmarked $50 million for wildfire-related expenses.<\/p>\n
The new report suggests fighting fires and evacuating northerners, among related expenses, has cost the province roughly $224 million between April 1 and Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
It also shows that, as of the end of the second quarter, water flows mirrored 1988-89 \u2014 the second-worst year in Manitoba Hydro\u2019s recorded history.<\/p>\n
The utility is projected to be in a net-loss position, with its operations now slated to cost $684 million more than budgeted.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Government of Manitoba handout<\/p>\n The Leaf Rapids wildfire in July. The Kinew government is blaming droughts, wildfires and U.S. tariffs for a soaring deficit that is expected to be $1.6 billion.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n These line items \u2014 which the finance minister said are tied to climate change \u2014 should be \u201cin the rear-view\u201d in the new year, he said.<\/p>\n Notably, the figures do not include the price tag of the NDP\u2019s promised review of its 2025 wildfire season response.<\/p>\n Asked about how recent climate crisis-related expenses will inform future budget planning, Sala indicated the province will consider its contingency funding.<\/p>\n Budget 2025 set aside $200 million for unexpected revenue changes. That fund has already been fully drained to address Hydro\u2019s losses.<\/p>\n Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan accused Premier Wab Kinew and the NDP caucus of blaming a \u201cdisastrous\u201d financial situation on \u201ceveryone but themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are missing every single projection that they have laid out, and not by a little bit \u2014 by a lot,\u201d Khan said during an afternoon scrum in the rotunda.<\/p>\n Manitoba\u2019s overall revenue is estimated to be $24.5 billion, down $556 million from what was forecast.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Mike Deal\/Free Press files<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Tory Leader Obby Khan.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Its gross domestic product is expected to grow 0.6 per cent less than what was forecast in the spring.<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s fiscal update attributed the decline to \u201ctariffs, trade uncertainty and economic risks associated with the wildfires.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite lower-than-anticipated revenue and soaring debt, Sala reiterated the NDP\u2019s commitment to balancing the budget by the end of its first term.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a time to cut programs or to look at making significant changes that might further slow down the economy,\u201d the minister added.<\/p>\n Political expert Christopher Adams said the new projections do not come as a surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cMany commitments were made two years ago during the provincial election. To the premier\u2019s credit, he\u2019s been working to fulfill those commitments, but at the same time, the downside to commitments is that you have to pay for them,\u201d said Adams, an adjunct professor in political science at the University of Manitoba.<\/p>\n He noted the NDP has pledged huge spending on health-care initiatives, such as recruiting and retaining nurses. At the same time, it\u2019s grappling with the fallout of its 2024 gas-tax holiday and related revenue losses, Adams said.<\/p>\n The Canadian Taxpayers Federation called on Kinew to find savings instead of borrowing $1.6 billion.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a time to cut programs or to look at making significant changes that might further slow down the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n PC finance critic Lauren Stone said her longtime concerns about the budget being \u201ctoo rosy,\u201d as well as the impact of double-digit education property tax increases on residents\u2019 pocketbooks, have proven to be true.<\/p>\n Stone urged the province to reverse its decision to implement a flat property education tax credit and do away with 50 per cent rebates for all homeowners.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Manitobans have more money in their pockets, then they can spend it,\u201d she said, adding that \u201ctaking $400 million out of (their) pockets\u201d is not a solution during a cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n The province\u2019s newest figures reveal it will bring in upwards of one billion dollars in education property tax revenue this year.<\/p>\n Consumer inflation was up 19.5 per cent, year-over-year, in October. Manitoba\u2019s consumer price index climbed three per cent that month while the Canadian average was 2.4 per cent.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Sala defended those numbers, saying various municipal fees, such as an increase to garbage pick up across Winnipeg, have contributed to them.<\/p>\n Manitoba\u2019s summary net debt is expected to balloon to $38 billion while the net-debt-to-GDP ratio is on track to climb 1.3 percentage points higher than planned.<\/p>\n The health and justice departments are expected to be over budget by $50 million and $20 million, respectively.<\/p>\n Manitoba Agriculture is an outlier in that it is forecasting $83 million in savings, owing to a reduction in insurance claims and indemnity payments due to favourable growing conditions.<\/p>\n \u2014 with files from Tyler Searle<\/p>\n maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Maggie Macintosh Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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