This year's provincial budget had a little bit for everyone - minor income tax relief (effective January 2006), lower business taxes, a reduction in the Education Support Levy, reduction in school taxes collected on farmland and increased spending in all government departments. All of this sounds good on paper but here is the reality - because the government has not indexed tax brackets to the rate of inflation, an insidious phenomenon known as bracket creep will eat up most of the income tax savings; since the government has done nothing to remove school taxes collected off the property tax bill the small savings from the reduction of the Education Support Levy will likely be eaten up by the next round of school tax hikes.

As for the spending side of the equation, the big winner in the budget was once again health care. With an additional $200 million being poured into the system, our government claims that wait times will be reduced. But more money has never helped alleviate wait times for patients waiting for surgery and diagnostic testing in the public system. Since taking office in the fall of 1999, the NDP government, with a great deal of help from federal transfer payments, has poured over $1 billion into health care. At the same time, wait times have grown for CT scans, stress tests, knee and hip replacements and ultrasounds.

In the area of health care, allowing a choice of private service delivery is not only an option, but a necessity. Health care funding, as it now stands now, is unsustainable. The portion of the provincial budget dedicated to health care spending (more than 41 percent) increases every year. These increases come without a noticeable long term improvement in the length of surgical waiting lists, the availability of advanced medical technology, the accessibility and affordability of pharmaceuticals, the length of the queue for long term care or assisted living spaces, and the number of services/practitioners covered by provincial health plans. It also doesn't take into consideration the amount of money set aside for future health care needs, which will be expensive as the Canadian population ages.

The provincial government is constrained by the 1984 Canada Health Act, but should look for ways to create efficiencies and direct resources to patient treatment and care. At some point in the near future, the province's failure to provide timely health services will cease being an economic issue and become a civil liberties issue. The province must not restrict an individual's ability to obtain medically necessary health services. The government must not stand in the way of the development of a parallel private health care system given that the province is unable provide timely services under the rationed government monopoly model.

The NDP government missed an opportunity in this year's budget to begin a long-term program of finding new efficiencies in the health care system. The first step should have been to introduce competitive tendering for services within the health system. The government should have considered public-private partnerships for all health services - including the ownership and operation of hospitals.

It is interesting to note that the British Columbia government is now saving $66 million a year in the health care sector by outsourcing services such as food preparation, security and cleaning. In Manitoba, however, there have been suggestions of a government run laundry facility and sandwich services. This will add unnecessary costs to the taxpayers and the province must consider outsourcing these contracts to the private sector.

Ignoring skyrocketing health costs is irresponsible. The consequence of inaction on health spending are obvious. Within the next decade our health system will deteriorate further. Economic situations beyond our control (such as drought, trade disputes, and the cyclical nature of oil and gas prices) will negatively impact Manitoba's ability to finance the health system. Public confidence in the system will wane as a result of declining services and dangerous waiting times. Overworked and over-regulated health professionals will seek better career opportunities in other provinces or foreign countries.