Steinbach MLA and Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says all elected bodies, including school boards, need to do all they can to keep costs and taxes down. He was responding to comments by Hanover School Superintendent Randy Dueck that the division is concerned about provincial education funding after seeing the cuts in the health care system. Goertzen did not comment directly on education funding but says elected officials, like school boards need to always be looking for efficiencies.

"There's a responsibility, just like there is on us, to make sure that every tax dollar is being used the best that it can be. We've got some great trustees throughout the province and in

Kelvin GoertzenHanover as well who, I think, work hard to ensure that those dollars get stretched as far as they can. But it takes a lot of creative thinking. Certainly, I know as Health Minister, we've had to go back on a number of different things and say: Where can we do this better? Where can we do it more efficiently? And, often, the first answer you get is that it can't be done any more efficiently, we've looked at it, or we've always done it this way. You have to push a little bit harder sometimes and then you find out, well, there is a bit of a different answer. It's a tough job because it's not as easy as just doing things status quo."

Goertzen says the government's pre-budget consultations have heard from many people who want taxes to stay down but they also want their services maintained.

"People are concerned about the tax environment in Manitoba. They want it to remain relatively low but they want services maintained. That's a difficult balance as a government. I know that, as Health Minister, you want to maintain the services to the level people both expect and need. But there's only so much people are willing to pay for those services. So I'm trying to learn from people about what their specific priorities are. You get a lot of different opinions."