The Manitoba government has announced Budget 2025, marking the largest capital investment in the province’s history, according to the press release. Finance Minister Adrien Sala revealed on March 20 that the budget aims to grow the economy, protect jobs and fulfill commitments to rebuilding the health care system and reducing costs for Manitobans.
According to Sala, the budget was created at a crucial moment in Manitoba’s history and is designed to meet the tariff challenges ahead with a significant investment in capital projects. “We didn’t start this trade war but we are not backing down,” he said. “We are Building One Manitoba.”
With a record $3.7 billion allocated to capital projects, the budget prioritizes constructing new schools, emergency rooms and personal care homes while upgrading critical infrastructure to sustain Manitoba’s economic momentum, according to Sala.
Some of the projects include the second phase of the North End Water Pollution Control Centre, improvements to the Port of Churchill and Hudson Bay rail line, upgrades to Manitoba Hydro’s infrastructure, twinning the east Trans-Canada Highway and initiating work on Lake St. Martin and Lake Manitoba outlet channels as well as Wasagamack Airport.
Sala said these investments are expected to generate nearly 18,000 new jobs.
Budget 2025 includes plans for multiple hospital expansions and renovations, according to Sala. Construction will begin on a new emergency room and Mature Women’s Centre at Victoria Hospital, a new emergency room in Eriksdale and a new Health-Care Centre of Excellence in downtown Winnipeg.
The Health Sciences Centre Children’s Hospital emergency room will also see renovations completed to enhance care for young patients and their families.
According to Sala, the budget introduces several measures to ease financial pressures to support families and businesses. These include an increase to the Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit, expanded access to free birth control, reductions in payroll taxes, an extension of the $10-a-day child care into the summer and a new Business Security Rebate program. Manitobans will also benefit from free entry to provincial parks for a year.
The budget also provides contingency funding to help businesses adapt to new markets and support for Manitoba’s canola farmers and pork producers who are facing tariff challenges from the U.S. and China, per a press release.
The U of M will receive a 2 per cent increase to its operating grant while being permitted a 3.5 per cent tuition increase for the 2025-26 academic year, according to UM Today. The budget includes $2.3 million in continued funding for health programs designed to train nurse practitioners, physician assistants and clinical psychologists.
Capital investments are also planned for U of M, including $10 million toward a new building at Bannatyne campus to expand undergraduate medical education. Additional funding includes $3.9 million for the Prairie Crops and Soils Research Facility to support agricultural research and $4.5 million for deferred maintenance projects to ensure sustainable campus infrastructure.
The U of M is currently reviewing the details of the provincial budget and will finalize its 2025-26 budget in May before presenting it to the board of governors and sharing it with the broader university community, according to UM Today.
