2025 bringing increased costs to Manitoba

Manitobans are in for a pricier 2025.

While families celebrated the arrival of the new year Wednesday, Winnipeggers will have to pay a little more in 2025 when it comes to fuel, transit, and housing.

At gas pumps across the province, people filling up are seeing the price at the pumps rise by 12.5 cents per litre, since the gas tax holiday ended on Dec. 31.

Depending on the type of vehicle, people are estimated to be paying an average of $9 to $11 in gas tax when they fill their tanks. Overall though, this is a 10 per cent reduction from the previous gas tax rate, which keeps Manitoba paying some of the lowest gas prices in Canada.

“It’s just a lot, it’s just a lot to handle right after Christmas too, right? So a lot of people have extra bills,” said Winnipegger Barb Moncrieffe. 

University of Manitoba student Cassidy Bodnaryk agrees, saying her commute is also becoming more costly. 

“I live so far away from U of M,” she said. “It’s like every day I’m spending a quarter-of-a-tank, so it’s gonna be harder and harder to pay for that.”

It’s not just at the pumps where you can expect to feel the pinch, as those who use Winnipeg Transit are seeing a 10-cent hike for regular fares. So those who use the monthly e-pass and paper passes are paying almost an additional $4. 

Housing will also be more expensive in 2025, as many Manitobans who are using the Tax Instalment Payment Plan saw their monthly payments rise to an average of 50 per cent due to a change in Manitoba’s School Tax Rebate program.

As these changes were approaching, CityNews spoke to many people who said they’re doing all they can to tighten their budgets for the rising cost of living. But it’s clear no matter what tax bracket people are in, the pressures of meeting these rising costs are taking a toll.

“It leads to more challenges because they can’t predict it,” said Jay Greenfeld, a clinical psychologist. 

“And the hardest thing about people who struggle with high levels of anxiety or high levels of stress, when they have a hard time managing them, is the unpredictability.”

Greenfeld says across the board, everyone’s anxiety levels related to finances are rising, as it gets more difficult to balance life.

“They run low on coping skills. ‘What can I do about this?’ Well, you can’t change policies. You can’t change decisions that are made by other people, and they’re enforcing them. But you can also change your response to what you do,” he said, with many people looking hard at their own budgets. 

“There’s only so much that you can make at a certain point and it’s not balancing out with respect to how much things are costing,” he said. 

“So if you can’t necessarily go beyond what the salary might be – and that can be at any level and that can be at any age – if you can’t change that, probably we as a society, have to learn how to be much stronger with how we manage our finances. How we spend our money and what we’re spending it on.”

Hopefully, it’s advice some people can resonate with, as this month we’re also seeing Winnipeg City Councillors vote on the 2025 budget, which includes a 5.95 per cent increase on property taxes, up from the 3.5 per cent increase Mayor Scott Gillingham promised during his campaign.

“I would rather do what I believe the citizens of Winnipeg need for the future,” said the city’s top elected official on Dec. 11.