Fifteen Things


Fifteen things you likely haven’t heard about

  1. Manitoba is the only province where residential property taxes have declined over the last decade.
  2. With 61% of this year’s 104 medical grads staying in Manitoba, U of M keeps a higher proportion of its grads within the province than any other medical school in English Canada. Twenty of the grads are from rural Manitoba.
  3. The workplace injury rate has dropped 30% in the last 10 years.
  4. Manitoba schools have the best student-teacher ratio in western Canada.
  5. Manitoba was the first province in Canada to introduce a ban on phosphorus in dishwater detergents
  6. MPI pays out 89 cents of every premium dollar collected to Manitoban claimants. The industry average is 65 to 70 per cent.
  7. Manitoba’s universities and colleges receive 80% more funding from the province than they did in 1999.
  8. Seven permanently protected provincial parks have been established since 1999 – Caribou River, Pembina Valley, Criddle Vane, Trappist Monastery, Manigotagan River, South Atikaki and Duff Roblin.
  9. Manitoba’s population increased by 16,435 last year, the best performance since at least 1972.
  10. Stats Canada says the Manitoba government had the 2nd lowest per capita spending increases in Canada over the last decade.
  11. Canadian Newspaper Association’s latest freedom of info audit gives Manitoba the second-best rating in the country.
  12. Three times as many Aboriginals enrolled in apprenticeship programs since 1999 – Aboriginals now comprise 15% of active apprentices.
  13. Manitoba received the top grade of A for life-saving cardiac surgery and cancer care as well as hip and knee surgery in 2009 from the Canadian Wait Times Alliance.
  14. The province has doubled its investments in agriculture over the last decade.
  15. High-school graduation rates have shot up from 72.4% in 2001 to 80.9% in 2009.



Fifteen things you’ve likely heard about

  1. Manitoba outperformed the national economy in virtually all of the major economic indicators in 2009.
  2. The minimum wage is now $9.00 an hour, rising to $9.50 this October.
  3. Manitoba gained the largest number of nurses ever last year – 498. In all there are 2,532 more nurses working in Manitoba today than in 2000.
  4. Winnipeg’s new transportation hub, CentrePort, will be Canada’s first foreign trade zone.
  5. By the end of this year, the province will have eliminated three taxes – the Small Business Income tax, the general Corporation Capital Tax and the residential Education Support Levy.
  6. Manitoba Hydro rates for residential customers remain among the lowest in North America.
  7. Manitoba is at the top of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance’s ranking – up from ninth under the previous government.
  8. Our anti-gang and drunk-driving legislation is the toughest in the country.
  9. Auto theft is at its lowest point in 17 years, having declined by nearly 80% since 2004.
  10. Logging has been banned in 80 of Manitoba’s 81 provincial parks.
  11. There are 6,500 more funded child care spaces than in 1999 – a 28% increase.
  12. College and university grads and apprentices who choose to live and work in Manitoba are now rewarded a 60% tuition fee income tax rebate.
  13. A new centralized wait list system helps families look for child care.
  14. Agricultural workers are now covered by the employment standards code, entitling them to the minimum wage, maternity leave, work breaks, and vacation pay.
  15. The cost of a west-side route for the Hydro Bipole 3 transmission line will not come from the province’s operating budget but will be spread over 40 years and be covered by Hydro’s increased exports as a result of Bipole 3.