Manitoba budget expands tax exemption on food items, aims to cut deficit

By Canadian Press on March 24, 2026.

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government laid out a provincial budget Tuesday that promises savings for snack lovers, many homeowners and young people who ride buses.

As of July 1, the province plans to remove the provincial sales tax from food and beverages sold in grocery stores.

Basic groceries such as milk, produce, meat and bread are already exempt. The budget will extend the exemption to candy, snack foods, prepared meals and more.

“We’re making life a little bit easier for parents who are picking up that rotisserie chicken to feed their kids after hockey practice or workers who want to grab a prepared salad.” Finance Minister Adrien Sala said.

Snacks are important to families, he added.

“Getting ready for a birthday party, you’ve got to buy those cans of pop and the chips. That’s part of every family’s expenses.”

The budget raises the province’s education property tax credit for homeowners by $100 to $1,700, as of next year.

But it also introduces a clawback, on a sliding scale, for owners of homes assessed at more than $1 million. People with homes assessed over $1.5 million will no longer receive the credit at all.

The government is also promising to work with municipalities with public transit systems to provide free rides for students up to Grade 12. Winnipeg already offers free rides to younger children if they’re accompanied by an adult.

“It’s not just about affordability. It’s about our path to net zero (emissions). And I think really excitingly, it’s about creating a new generation of bus riders,” Sala said.

Some 3,500 families who receive the highest subsidy for child care and pay $2 a day as a result will have that fee eliminated. Renters will also see a $50 increase in their annual tax credit.

The budget sets aside $22.1 million for a cardiac care clinic at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, including 18 new beds and a cardiologist stationed in the emergency department.

The budget is the third delivered by the NDP government since the 2023 election. It forecasts a deficit of $498 million on total spending of $27.3 billion.

Manitoba has run deficits in every year but two since 2009, and the NDP has promised to balance the budget before the next election, slated for October 2027.

It has missed its targets so far. The deficit for the current fiscal year more than doubled, driven largely by drought and forest fires.

Sala said the government is on track to balance the books in the next fiscal year. Tuesday’s budget forecasts real GDP growth of 1.3 per cent this year and 1.7 per cent next year, leading to a projected $8-million surplus next year.

The budget forecast is also based on a return to more-normal weather and $50 million in emergency expenditures – down from $224 million spent fighting a near-record number of wildfires last summer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2026.

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press