It’s become a war of words between politicians, one blaming the other over funding, that will ultimately affect city taxpayers.
After the City of Winnipeg said they were having to defer their 2019 budget due to a lack of information from the province, the Manitoba premier has suggested the city is stalling.
“We’ve made our budget process exactly the same for decades in this province. We’re not going to be changing it because of the city’s lack of willingness to address their planning challenges,” Brian Pallister said Monday.
The previous Tuesday, Bowman said the budget’s release date was being pushed back to March in order for the province to give more detail on its funding levels for the city.
In late 2017, Bowman said he was notified by the province they would be freezing ambulance funding, a major line item in the City’s approved budget, at 2016 funding levels. At the time, Bowman said the move would lead to a financial shortfall for the city.
“This will create significant financial issues for the city,” Bowman said.
“The provincial government appears to have unilaterally abandoned a long standing city-provincial cost sharing agreement,” Bowman said.
However, Pallister said city officials have already been advised that they should “expect the same generous support as they have received in the past.”
“The City of Winnipeg has the most generous fiscal arrangements with our provincial government of any city in the Country of Canada.”
WATCH: Manitoba premier pushes back over city’s budget blame
Pallister said the timing of budgetary commitments is exactly the same now as it has been for the past 10 years, and they have no plans to change it.
“The tail doesn’t wag the dog… tail doesn’t wag the dog.
“No provincial government gives written confirmation of budgetary items to a city. No one, it is a bad thing! It’s a bad precedent,” Pallister said.
He said it is up to the city to decide how they work with the process, noting they have chosen to delay.
“I would totally refute the argument that we are being anything but generous and fair to the City of Winnipeg and all our municipal governments.”
Mayor Brian Bowman responded to Pallister’s comments, saying just because they’ve been doing things the same way for 10 years doesn’t mean it is the best way to do it.
“I take no pride in certain things being done for decades. I think we can do better,” Bowman said.
“We have not asked for increased funding. We have just asked for information that can help us build a budget with greater certainty, and I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request.”
-With files from Diana Foxall
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