Yesterday's provincial Throne Speech didn't come with any concrete commitments to infrastructure, but the minister in charge is pointing to the government's $502 million capital infrastructure investment plan announced last week. Blaine Pedersen says the emphasis on these projects is return-on-investment.

"By announcing it now we're able to put those tenders out so contractors across the province have got the opportunity to bid on these. By getting the tenders out early we're also able to get competitive bids on these so we get better value for it."

In fact, the speech did outline the implementation of a return-on-investment test to prioritize government investments in infrastructure including roads and bridges.

Pedersen adds government also wants to know how these projects help build local economies, noting an emphasis has been placed back on some of Manitoba's PR gravel roads that have been neglected.

"We've gone across the province and picked some projects that will really resonate with the local residents...they see a lot of heavy traffic and municipalities have long told us that it's causing wear and tear on municipal roads when provincial roads are not in good condition."

Meantime, the province is also encouraging Regional Health Authorities and Crown Corporations to follow their lead in trimming expenses. Fixing the Manitoba's finances and whittling down a $846 million deficit was priority one outlined in yesterday's Throne Speech. Pedersen says government has already started to trim middle management.

"The regional health authorities and other entities of government (like) Crown Corporations also have to do this too, they can't be treated separately. They have a huge impact on our total budget so they have to be included in this exercise as well."

The Tories have also set priorities of repairing Manitoba's frontline services and rebuilding the economy.