I’m awash in numbers right now, looking at financial costs and economic projections. What can I afford to pay for: a trip for my kid, or good groceries for us? Affordability is at the top of people’s minds right now, and governments are setting their budgets for the year too. With that in mind we dove into the Manitoba government’s funding for nature and climate, to see how the province is handling their responsibilities for Mother Earth. And folks… it looks really bad.

How it started

In 2007, the Manitoba Government spent roughly 1.3 per cent of its budget on environmental conservation. In 2025 that number dropped to a measly 0.88 per cent of expenditure. The $196 million spent in 2025 does not meet the moment and the crises we face. We have to be alarmed at this financial neglect.

I was in my first year as director when I published a report on parks funding in Manitoba, a comparison to other jurisdictions across the west in 2007. At the time, Manitoba fared poorly in money spent per hectare of protected park, but decent in staffing. At the time, care for parks was a feel-good discussion my canvass crew and I were having at the door. Care for parks and making parks was good for our soul.

How it’s going

Twenty years on and wilderness work is starkly different. In 2018, a global report told us we had to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 to stabilize our climate. And the world agreed on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022, which directed us to protect 30 per cent of the lands and waters by 2030 to preserve biodiversity. The really stunning fact comes from the World Economic Forum, — where our new Prime Minister just gave his now-famous speech on abusive international relationships — in their annual global risk report, which states that in the next decade the top two risks to society are climate change and biodiversity loss.  

European allies are spending much more right now. Finland spends 1.8 per cent of their GDP on the environment, Denmark is at 1.9 per cent and Sweden is at 2.6 per cent. Comparatively, the Canadian government spent 1.19 per cent of its budget on environmental conservation in 2007, and increased that slightly to 1.55 per cent in 2025. Anywhere between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent on nature will put us in line with other jurisdictions. But Manitoba was spending only half what we needed  to spend.

What we need to do

Around the world, a call has gone out to spend an additional 2 per cent on climate. This is on top of the roughly 2 per cent that countries are already spending on environmental protections. Financially it makes sense to spend money to handle the harm we’ll inevitably experience as the climate and biodiversity crises worsen, as so many leading economic voices have said recently.

The hard numbers about what Manitoba should spend to save our life support system amount to an additional $252 million per year, on top of the $196 million that was budgeted in 2025. If we are to LEAD and do our share to keep our planet healthy, the additional 2 per cent for climate commitment will see us spend another $447 million on climate every year until we've reached the biodiversity and emissions targets the world has agreed to.

Leadership requires recognizing the big issues and stepping forward to act. Premier Wab Kinew and Minister Sala have aspirations of great leadership. Nature and climate finance numbers will tell the hard truth in Budget 2026.