Manitoba’s Infrastructure Investment

In 2013, the Manitoba government committed to investing the equivalent of the 1 percentage point provincial sales tax (PST) increase in core infrastructure, beyond existing levels of provincial infrastructure spending. Combined, the additional PST revenue and the previously committed infrastructure investment will total $5.1 billion over the next five years. An additional $400 million will bring the Manitoba government’s total core infrastructure investment to $5.5 billion over the next five years. This Signal49 Research analysis indicates that, between 2014 and 2018, this $5.5-billion investment will raise overall real GDP by $6.3 billion or 2 per cent; create 58,900 person years of employment; generate $1.4 billion in retail sales; add more than 2,000 housing units; add $1,100 annually to the real income of each working-age Manitoban; and increase business investment in capital equipment, such as new trucks and earth-moving machinery, by $1.4 billion.