A demographic dozen Smaller, but significant budget elements for Manitobans By: Dylan Robertson Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Apr. 7, 2022

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This article was published 06/04/2022 (994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Beyond pledges for housing, dental care and green growth, Thursday’s federal budget contained hundreds of small tweaks and funding announcements that will appeal to voters among certain demographics and regions.

Here are 12 things we’ve learned in the 300-page budget:

Infrastructure dollars

Manitoba has left just one per cent of its federal infrastructure money sitting on the table. Former premier Brian Pallister’s government had struggled to tap federal cost-matched dollars, both due to budget constraints and a push for more flood-prevention dollars.

Thursday’s budget reveals Premier Heather Stefanson’s government has quickly caught up to other provinces and leapfrogged most of them, inking and pitching deals to lock in $1.1 billion in federal cash.

Thursday’s budget reveals Premier Heather Stefanson’s government has quickly caught up to other provinces and leapfrogged most of them, inking and pitching deals to lock in $1.1 billion in federal cash.

Water agency coming

The federal Liberals’ 2019 promise to revive an agency to co-ordinate provincial management of Prairie watersheds should be up and running this calendar year. The budget confirmed the agency will be located outside Ottawa. Its predecessor, the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, was based in Regina until the Harper government mothballed it in 2011.

Ottawa has also pledged to renew funding for initiatives to tackle algae blooms in Lake Winnipeg, but had no breakdown of how $20 million would be split between that basin and seven other freshwater areas.

Legal Aid cash

In response to calls from Manitoba and other provinces, Ottawa will boost Legal Aid for criminal cases by $60 million in the fiscal year starting next March.

Ottawa is also allocating $43.5 million in this fiscal year to extend legal support for asylum claimants.

School lunches

The budget pledges to work with provinces “to develop a National School Food Policy and to explore how more Canadian children can receive nutritious food at school.”

The government noted that two million children risk going to school hungry. But solving that problem could be a pie in the sky, with no funding allocated Thursday for the initiative.

Hydro ties

Thursday’s budget commits Ottawa to working on projects that transfer cleaner energy between provinces, citing the well-known Atlantic Loop as well as something called “the Prairie Link project.” A Google search suggests that name was used to refer to a rail link between Calgary and Edmonton, but a federal official insisted it’s part of a nascent project to link electricity grids in Western Canada.

The government noted that two million children risk going to school hungry. But solving that problem could be a pie in the sky, with no funding allocated Thursday for the initiative.

Not much for long-term care

Thursday’s budget makes only passing references to long-term care, all of which refer to existing COVID-19 programs. Ottawa is still developing national standards for the sector, to replace a provincial patchwork around how personal-care homes are funded and inspected.

Similarly, the provinces’ perpetual demand for a more generous health-care transfer has again gone unheeded. A platform commitment to boost cash for provinces to tackle COVID-19 backlogs remains unfulfilled, with just $6 billion of the promised $10 billion allocated so far.

Mellow on cannabis

Growing legal bud has been a dud, Thursday’s budget declared, with Ottawa allocating pledging “a new cannabis strategy table that will support an ongoing dialogue with businesses and stakeholders… to grow the legal cannabis sector.”

Money to investigate, commemorate unmarked graves

Thursday’s budget pledges roughly $150 million in new cash over the looming five years for researching, locating and commemorating burial sites at former residential schools, in addition to funding for a new headquarters for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, earmarked at $60 million in last fall’s election.

The Liberals are also pledging $5.1 million over five years for the government “to ensure the Royal Canadian Mounted Police can support community-led responses to unmarked burial sites.” The chiefs of Sagkeeng First Nation and Pimicikamak Cree Nation have called for criminal probes into wrongdoing at schools that operated in their communities.

Foreign-trained doctors and nurses

Ottawa is planning to drastically expand the existing Foreign Credential Recognition Program, to provide $115 million over the next five years, and then an annual $30 million, in a bid to integrate a yearly 11,000 internationally trained health-care workers by getting their credentials recognized by federal and provincial bodies.

The budget otherwise had few details on hiring more nurses or doctors.

Doubling cash to fight gender-based violence

Ottawa will transfer $539 million to provinces over five years for them to offer programs preventing domestic abuse and helping victims. That’s in addition to the $600 million earmarked last year for organizations providing services.

Ottawa will transfer $539 million to provinces over five years for them to offer programs preventing domestic abuse and helping victims.

Menstrual Equity Fund

After announcing free tampons and pads for students on First Nations, Ottawa is allocating $25 million over the next two years to “help make menstrual products available to Canadians in need.” This new funding likely covers the pledge for on-reserve schools, but it’s unclear where else menstrual products will appear.

Tax breaks for fertility treatments

Ottawa is extending medical-expenses tax exemptions to surrogacy payments and fees for sperm banks and fertility clinics, starting now.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca