April 2026
lifestyles55.net
MANITOBA
FAST
DENTURES
204-947-1807 The debate continues on our healthcare
Slow cooked and so tasty
6
11
Thinking bigger with tax reform in Manitoba Evelyn Jacks
M
anitoba’s March 24 budget missed an important opportunity: to show how a province hard hit by tariffs from its southern neighbor can focus on a tax-smart strategy to propel economic growth and raise standards of living in an affordability crisis. Instead, we continue to raise income taxes across the board through bracket creep, and potentially fail to keep and attract highly educated workers who will call Manitoba home in the future. We do so at the peril of building a healthy tax base. We could, however, look west to go from good to great. The Backdrop. For context, the top tax rate of 17.4% kicks in at $100,000 in Manitoba. That’s a low threshold. The highest earners, with taxable incomes over $253,414 in 2026, pay tax at a rate of just over 50% (federal and provincial combined). There aren’t that many of those top earners: just under 10,000 of them. The vast majority (67%) have incomes of $50,200 or less , and they form the broad base of taxpayers in Manitoba. Further, the poverty line is just over $24,000 for a single person in Manitoba. That person will pay about $1300 in federal/provincial income tax in Manitoba. In Saskatchewan, the tax bill would be $832 and in
W
innipeg has a reputation for being fairly cold in the winter. Okay, that’s a bold faced lie. We have actually been dubbed affectionately, or spitefully, depending on how you look at it, as Winterpeg. It is, in truth, freaking cold in this prairie expanse! We are one of those lucky places that can range from minus 40 C in winter not including windchill that allows skin to peel off even when covered to plus 40 C in summer. For any of you unfamiliar with the Celsius scale it means from
12
Manitoba’s biomedical industry: a winning horse eager to get out of the barn!
Alberta $621. One of the reasons for the difference is the Basic Personal Amount is $15,780 in Manitoba, much lower than Saskatchewan’s $20,381 and Alberta’s $22,769. Worse, last year the provincial government announced a hidden tax; known as bracket creep. The personal amounts and tax brackets are not indexed to inflation starting in 2025. That can push taxpayers into higher tax brackets sooner, and erode the value of tax u 5 ‘Tax reform in Manitoba'
Polar Bear Jane Hebden
Manitoba is a garden shoppers' paradise!
arctic cold to jungle unbearable. Both these ranges do not last for more than just a day or so, scattered amid pleasant temperatures. I am talking for weeks on end. Have we benefited from global warming? All I know is I don’t see any palm trees flourishing outside my apartment window. Sure, maybe the winter is a bit milder. Minus 30 scattered here and there Provides some relief. They say the arctic ice cap is melting and the polar bears are suffering because of it. Well bothered bears come on down! I’m certain one morning I’ll go and brush the snow off my car windows and discover a polar bear sitting in the pas-
senger seat trying to escape minus 53 C (windchill included here.) An exaggeration, perhaps, but not by much. Having lived here all my life you’d assume I’d be used to it by now. Big fat NO there! Why then linger here and continue the suffering? Because my pension will not exactly cover that condo in Oahu. So I suck it up, put on all the clothes possible that still allow mobility, swear a lot, trudge across the parking lot hoping my cars block heater has not perished overnight. Worst comes to worst, maybe I can cuddle up to that polar bear squatter in the front seat and pray for an early spring!
CEO Andrea Ladoceur speaks at the BAM gala dinner. Few realize what an incredible industry this is or how much it contributes to the economy of Manitoba.
Andrea Ladoceur
M
anitoba has a compelling opportunity to lead Canada not just in repairing its health care system, but in transforming it through the adoption of innovative medicine. As pressures mount from aging populations, chronic disease, and workforce shortages, incremental change may not be enough. Manitoba can lead by showing how advancing testing and normalizing cutting-edge medical approaches. A central pillar of this transformation is the u 7 ‘Manitoba's biomedical industry'