The President of Keystone Agricultural Producers says the most significant benefit of the Manitoba Government’s just released 2019 provincial budget is the reduction of the provincial sales.
The Manitoba government unveiled its 2019 provincial budget last week.
Bill Campbell, the President of Keystone Agricultural Producers, says KAP received the budget as very positive.
The reduction of the sales tax I think was one of the highlights of the budget, so going eight percent to seven percent will affect all citizens of Manitoba and especially agriculture with regards to all of the inputs that we buy and the tax that’s on them so that is some favorable news.
Also the infrastructure spending, they are enhancing their budget a little bit on some highway spending and infrastructure and we all realize how important our highways are to get our products to the right spots for sale so that part’s pretty good.
They also announced and acknowledged the Young Farmer Program. They’ve increased the funding there by 32 percent. For the Young Farmer portion we will have to see how the details are of that two million fund for the young farmers and see what it all entails so there was a little bit of detail with regards to the budget.
There is still some ongoing concerns with regards to some aspects of agriculture but overall I think the budget is positive for most citizens of Manitoba.
~ Bill Campbell, Keystone Agricultural Producers
Campbell notes there is an education review underway now and agriculture will hopefully be part of that consultation. He says property tax assessments have increased significantly and are weighing heavily on property tax bills and moving forward KAP will continue ongoing discussions with the provincial government.
