Premier says Manitoba nearing limits of what it can do on affordability, so he’s going after big corporations

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says the provincial government is reaching the limits of what it can do to ease the cost of living without sacrificing the revenue needed to fund public services, and that corporate giants need to do their part.

Kinew said he wants to raise this conversation with Manitoba NDP members at the party’s annual convention, underway this weekend at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg.

“We’ve listened very closely to the cost of living being a top concern, and we’ve taken action,” he told reporters Friday afternoon about his first three years in office.

“But for us to go further, I think we have to have a serious conversation about: should we be taking revenue away from health care and education to help with the cost of living? Or should we go look at these big companies around the country and continent that are making record profits while you can’t even get by?”

During the NDP’s first term, it removed the provincial gas tax for a year and then brought back the levy but at a lower rate of 12.5 cents per litre, instead of the previous 14 cents.

Kinew’s party also froze electricity rates and the price of milk for a year. It has also removed the provincial sales tax on the remaining grocery items that were still subject to the tax.

Each of those measures helped people save money but also reduced the province’s revenues, Kinew said.

If the province continues down this path, “it’s going to affect the nurse salary and the police officer salary and the teacher salary,” he said.

Kinew introduces NDP MLAs and candidates for the upcoming election during the Manitoba party’s convention Friday. (Rudy Gauer/CBC)

“Right now there’s this huge, huge profit happening on the corporate side, with energy companies and with grocery companies. Shouldn’t we start to look there for the future steps to try and save you money?”

The premier didn’t outline how he would pressure the corporate giants.

It’s not the first time he’s taken aim at their influence over consumers.

In 2023, Kinew warned grocery retailers that if they didn’t pass along savings from the provincial gas tax holiday, his government would act. While inflation went down during this time period, it doesn’t appear grocery prices declined in any measurable way.

In later years, his government proceeded to outlaw property restrictions that keep new grocery stores from opening near existing stores, and it has banned grocers from offering some customers different prices than others.

Kinew pointed to the price of gas as an example of corporations gouging the public.

Prices spiked this year because the war in Iran disrupted global oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.

“But our oil here, our gasoline doesn’t come through the Strait of Hormuz, it comes from Alberta,” Kinew said.

“These big energy companies are charging the market price, right? And that’s just pure profit.”

NDP is election-ready: Kinew

He also told reporters the NDP is ready for next year’s election, highlighting the $3.5-million war chest it has built up. That’s the highest amount Kinew is aware of.

The NDP also has 38 of 57 candidates nominated for the election, a party official said.

Kinew introduced all of the NDP MLAs and candidates who were at Friday’s convention, commenting on their accomplishments or sharing a personal story about them.

Kinew eats rotisserie chicken at a March 2025 news conference promoting his government’s plan to remove the provincial sales tax from all food in grocery stores. He argued Friday that grocery stores can do more to lower the public’s cost of living. (Steve Lambert/The Canadian Press)

He said increasing the size of his majority — his party has 34 seats — is a personal goal. He’s looking to make gains in rural areas of the province, telling the convention, as one example, that Lac du Bonnet used to vote NDP routinely when Ed Schreyer was premier in the 1970s, and it will vote NDP again.

“I think it would make our government better if we get the voices of southwestern Manitoba, the Interlake, southeastern Manitoba, other regions to sit around the government table with us and bring that perspective on the issues like health care, on issues like affordability,” Kinew said.

The next election is scheduled for Oct. 5, 2027, but could be called earlier.

Kinew offered no indication when Manitobans would head to the polls. He called 2027 an “election year” and said he’s looking forward to releasing a budget in the spring.

He said balancing the budget next year is that “one big piece that we promised you” in the 2023 election campaign, “and we’ve got to deliver on that before we come back to ask for another mandate.”

The province’s deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year is $832 million — about half of what the government forecasted last December.

Kinew also said he has no regrets about his government’s decision to abandon the time change ritual. The adoption of permanent daylight time is resulting in later sunrises during the next few months, leading to complaints around kids walking to school in the dark and businesses that said their computer systems didn’t adapt to the new times.

There was a “huge consensus” to end twice-yearly clock changes, Kinew said, “and what I would say to people … is this change requires an adjustment, and we’re going through the adjustment now.”

The NDP’s convention continues Saturday with a speech from federal party leader Avi Lewis and a sold-out gala dinner, with 800 tickets purchased.