The Chair of Manitoba's Red Tape Task Force is looking forward to further streamlining government regulations in 2019.

In a year-end interview, Morris MLA Shannon Martin said that while the Manitoba Government has made a lot of headway in clearing that red tape, it was clear that individuals and business owners continued to navigate it all. He noted there is still about 1 million regulatory requirements that still exist.

"We've laid a larger framework over government so that for every new requirement that the government brings in, two have to be taken off the books, and that will be in effect for the next couple of years," he explained. "Part of it is empowering the civil servant to identify those regulations that simply don't make sense anymore."

As for what else government has planned for 2019, Martin said the goal is to continue down the path it is currently on.

According to Martin, the PC Government has whittled down a $1 billion provincial deficit by well-over $250 million since coming to power in 2016. The province also received its first positive review in almost two decades from a bond company for its plan to reduce red tape. Martin added the Canadian Institute for Health Information released a report that Manitoba was the only province in the country that saw its healthcare wait times go down last year. He noted 2018 was also the first time in 15 years that there were less kids in government care in Manitoba than the year before.

"These things didn't just happen and they won't continue to happen without sustained efforts on all our parts," said Martin. "We were elected on a promise to be Canada's most improved province and I have no doubt that we're headed there."