Trucking2018 Manitoba Prosperity Report
The Manitoba Employers Council (MEC), established in 1980, is the largest collective of individual employers and employer associations in Manitoba. MEC represents the interests of Manitoba employers in matters relating to employment, including: labour relations, human resource management, employment standards, and workers compensation and workplace safety and health.
Through reviewing and analyzing key indicators MEC can determine whether Manitoba reached its prosperity potential, relative to the neighbouring jurisdictions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. If that potential wasn’t reached, MEC presents policy recommendations to achieve that prosperity.
The Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA) has had a long standing relationship with MEC and as a result, the MTA helps steer the direction of the Prosperity Report, while ensure our industries key indicators are considered.
How did Manitoba do in the 4th edition of the 2018 Prosperity Report?
Manitoba performed poorly in several key areas such as:
- Last in GDP per capita;
- Last in net interprovincial migration;
- Highest family taxes;
- Fewest businesses per capita;
- Lowest postsecondary graduation rate;
- Largest public-sector employment;
- Most expensive provincial government; and
- Lowest weekly earnings.
A large public sector is very expensive, so it should come as no surprise that Manitoba has the most expensive government and are charged the highest taxes. Although this years report doesn’t rate the quality of service that Manitoban’s receive from government, but in accordance to other reports and in comparison to other provinces, Manitoba has inferior services. MEC is recommending the Province strongly focus on addressing the below recommendations.
- Reduce the size and cost of the provincial government;
- Reduce the province’s debt load and eliminate the deficit;
- Reverse interprovincial migration losses;
- Increase high school and post-secondary graduation rates;
- Increase rates of entrepreneurship;
- Reduce red tape;
- Reduce personal income taxes through rate reductions and increasing brackets;
- Eliminate the payroll tax
The MTA staff have been working in partnership with government on many opportunities and strategies, to help ensure our Industry is a safe, vibrant and healthy industry for years to come in Manitoba. Some of the strategies that the MTA staff have been pursuing, that would address the recommendations from MEC would include:
- The MTA has actively lobbied for red tape reductions across a number of government departments
- The MTA is actively engaged with Manitoba Infrastructure’s Service Delivery Review with an aim towards uncovering opportunities to maintain or improve services while reducing size/cost/overhead for government
- The MTA is an active participant in the Province’s Economic Development Strategy
- The MTA is seeking to administer a provincial sector council and is also currently developing an industry educational strategy. Both of these items are in support of increased industry training and employment opportunities
- Finally, the MTA is very aggressively working with the province on taxation and environmental opportunities in an effort to support reasonable and effective taxation that supports economic activity opposed to penalizing it
We encourage you to review the 2018 Manitoba Prosperity Report, for a copy of this report contact the Manitoba Trucking Association at:
204 632-6600