\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"PC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4207296_web1_250320-Budget-response-0242.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
PC finance critic Lauren Stone (Mikaela MacKenzie \/ Free Press files)<\/p>\n
Stone pointed to a mailer from the city this week that shows school divisions such as Louis Riel and Seven Oaks have seen 43 and 37 per cent tax increases, respectively since 2022, while the City of Winnipeg portion of the tax bill has increased by just 17.5 per cent \u2014 \u201cthe lowest municipal property taxes on an average home of any major city in Canada,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n
It shows that school boards \u201ccontrol\u201d 54 per cent of all property taxes collected in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe City of Winnipeg is essentially saying, \u2018This is wrong, this is not our problem; this is the problem of the NDP government,\u2019\u201d said Stone (Midland). \u201cThis never happened under our government. We have never seen property taxes as high as they are right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
In question period, Premier Wab Kinew said that schools were underfunded by the PC government, and that 90 per cent of Manitobans are better off this year than they were under the Tories, thanks to the homeowners affordability tax credit.<\/p>\n
He said his government is spending more on education and hiring more teachers and educational assistants \u201cthan ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kinew said the PCs would cut education if they were in power.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to go back to under-funding positions,\u201d and provide fewer supports and clinical resources to help children grow and learn, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich schools do they want to close?\u2026. Which educational assistants do they want to fire?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kinew said the province is asking \u201chuge property owners\u201d and \u201cthe really rich\u201d to pay more.<\/p>\n
Stone said many Winnipeg homeowners and families are now struggling with their property taxes.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s seniors on fixed incomes. It\u2019s families who have maybe been in their homes for 10 years and are trying to figure out how to pay their property tax bill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that school divisions now represent 54 per cent of a property tax bill \u2014 those are issues that have occurred under this NDP government because the NDP government made these changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, the city also sent out notices to explaining how the changes impact the property Tax Instalment Payment Plan program.\u2019<\/p>\n
Stone said the NDP has done such a poor job of managing the education property tax file that the City of Winnipeg has to include an insert into property tax bills, \u201cessentially distancing themselves from the NDP\u2019s tax grabs.\u201d<\/p>\n
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Carol Sanders Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Carol 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 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Legislature reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n