Questions raised over NDP education funding as education property taxes see steep increase
Posted March 17, 2026 6:55 pm.
Questions are being raised by multiple levels of government over the NDP’s education funding model and a steep rise in education property taxes.
Under the current government, school divisions have no cap on how much they can levy taxes. As a result, some school divisions have raised property taxes by over 40 per cent over the last four years.
Those numbers came from a report released by two city councillors, calling on the government to take more responsibility, as the city is responsible for collecting education property taxes.
“We take the phone calls here that say, ‘How dare you raise our property taxes by 10, 12, 15 per cent.’ We’re trying to communicate how that’s broken up. I would suggest the province take ownership of this, send out their own piece of mail saying here’s what we are asking for from Winnipeggers, we can send out our property tax, and we’ll see how it lands,” said Evan Duncan, councillor for Charleswood–Tuxedo–Westwood.
The report sparked a heated debate in question period Tuesday, where the PC’s pointed to figures released by Statistics Canada on Monday that show property taxes jumped 19.5 per cent from last February, compared to a national average of just 5.6 per cent.
“Let’s be very clear on one thing, that 20 per cent increase on your property taxes is because of this NDP government, not because of cities, not because of municipalities, and not because of school trustees, because of failures of this NDP government,” said PC Leader Obby Khan.
Kinew responded saying, “Every single dollar he’s talking about goes to Manitoba schools, so perhaps he can tell us, is it the school in Brandon he would like to cut? Is it the school in the Western School Division that he’d like to cut, perhaps he’d like to cut French immersion?”
While PC Finance Critic Lauren Stone said, “the NDP removed the 2 per cent cap on school divisions, which has enabled and allowed school divisions to run rampant in their education property tax hikes. They removed the rebate completely and replaced it with, quite frankly, a weaker $1,500, now $1,600 credit that is not even making up for the taxes that Winnipeg families are seeing.”
Adding, “Up to 43 per cent in Louis Riel school division alone, followed by 37 per cent in Seven Oaks, 37 per cent in Pembina Trails, and the list goes on.”
In response, Finance Minister Adrien Sala teased a potential increase in tax credits to be released in next week’s budget. While touting a model that he says is PROPERLY funding schools after YEARS OF underfunding from the previous government.
“We’re finally correcting that by providing adequate funding, while we reduce your tax bill with our education property tax credits, which are going a long way to support families, and we’re excited next Tuesday, budget day, Manitobans can expect more help is on the way,” said Sala.
