In Manitoba, a tax-cut shell game is obscuring regressive policies while deepening poverty. As Marianne Cerilli details, activists are working to challenge the provincial government’s focus on tax breaks over vital social investments, urging new Premier Wab Kinew to adopt an intersectional, participatory approach to budgeting to work towards true social justice.

Wab Kinew signalled early on that his government, if elected, would not raise taxes and balance the provincial budget. This has led some to quip that Manitoba now has a Progressive Conservative Party and a conservative progressive party, as the NDP has become progressive on identity and social issues, and conservative on economic and fiscal policy.