Immediate action needed to fight $602 million deficit

WINNIPEG: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) responded to the release of the province's quarterly update today by calling for the implementation of a five-point deficit action plan.

“We warned them in January of last year that the province had a spending problem, today’s financial update shows just that,” said Colin Craig, Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “The province claims they've tightened their belts, but there's still lots of fat to be cut.”

The province’s financials show a projected core deficit of $602 million for 2009-10, up from the $88 million deficit projected in their March 2009 budget. 

The Five-Point Plan 

1. Two year wage freeze for all provincial politicians and public servants – just as the government of New Brunswick implemented, the province should freeze public sector employees' wages and benefits - just as many private sector workers have seen.
2. Halt discretionary capital projects – discretionary capital projects such as the Upper Fort Garry development should be put on ice.
3. Greater scrutiny over expenditures – how could projects such as the $175,000 canopy at the Legislature move forward in the middle of a recession? Or the Anishinaabe Child and Family Service's $15,151 trip to Nevada. The province needs to find better bargains and review expenditures more closely.
4. All-party committee to review all expenditures, determine efficiencies – as recommended by the CTF in March 2009, an all-party committee should be struck to carefully review all areas of government spending and determine better ways of delivering government services. Such a committee could potentially discover and eliminate “show up for work bonuses” as the CTF uncovered in 2009.
5. Introduce a fraud and waste hotline – introduce a fraud and waste hotline just as the City of Toronto and other jurisdictions have done.

“There’s no excuse for a deficit in Manitoba, especially as our economy faired much better than almost every other province in the country,” added Craig. “By moving forward with a balanced approach which includes a freeze on civil servant salaries and curbing discretionary expenditures, the deficit could be eliminated sooner rather than later.”