Budget 2013 - Focused on what matters most to families

Protecting Manitobans from frequent flooding and an uncertain global economy

Budget 2013 and the Manitoba Building and Renewal Plan are building for the future - protecting families and businesses against an uncertain global economy and the third major flood risk in five years.

Budget 2013 invests in critical infrastructure, creates thousands of new jobs and stimulates continued growth in Manitoba's economy by:

• Building stronger flood protection and repairing bridges damaged by flooding in 2011
• Improving and building highways, roads and residential streets
• Strengthening health care with better clinics, hospitals and personal care homes

Infrastructure

• Investing $620 million to upgrade and build roads, highways and bridges.
• Continuing with flood repairs from the 2011 flood and supporting future flood-fighting engineering and construction projects.
• Implementing the new provincial park strategy, including repairs to Spruce Woods and St. Ambroise provincial parks.

Skills, Training and Jobs

• Introducing a new training and skills development strategy for people facing barriers to employment.
• Launching a new online tool to help workers and employers find each other quickly and effectively.
• Providing a 2.5 per cent increase for universities, capping tuition increases at the rate of inflation and providing a 2 per cent increase in operating grants for community colleges.

Health Care and Frontline Services

• Continuing with investments to provide a family doctor for all by 2015, including new clinics, health care teams and new tools to make it easier to find a family doctor.
• Expanding the STARS emergency helicopter program to a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service.
• Improving services to help seniors live independently.