Manitoba’s credit rating outlook has been downgraded again, through 2020.

Standard and Poor’s says Manitoba’s credit outlook is “negative,” reducing its rating from AA to AA-.

Before winning the election, the Tories slammed the NDP for moves that pushed the rating to “stable AA.”

“The downgrade reflects our expectation that Manitoba will have a sustained tax-supported debt burden offer than 270% of consolidated operating revenue in the next several years, which is materially higher than that of domestic and international peers,” the credit agency said in a release.

Last summer, Manitoba’s credit outlook was downgraded by Moody’s for the first time in 30 years, from Aa2 from Aa1, citing a fast-growing debt load and a failure to reach balanced-budget targets. Moody’s also warned of further downgrades if those issues weren’t addressed.

Now in government, the Tories have extended the deadline to balance the books to 2024-25.

In a release late Thursday, Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said the government’s plan is to bring in a balanced budget in their second term without cutting front-line services.

"While we are disappointed with the credit downgrade released today, our government is committed to improving the challenging fiscal position that our province finds itself in as a result of the over-spending and missed targets witnessed under the previous administration.

"Budget 2016 reduces the core deficit by 12% over the 2015-16 projection and includes targeted and focused initiatives including a value for money review,” he said in a statement. "Our government recognizes the importance of credit ratings and the impact that changes to our credit rating and outlook may have on our province’s bottom line.”

Their goal is to keep spending growth beneath 3% to make that happen, Friesen said.

He and Premier Brian Pallister met with credit rating agencies in Toronto this June in hopes of preventing downgrades.

How about trimming spending instead, asks the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“A credit rating downgrade makes it more likely that Manitoba will pay higher interest rates on the hundreds of millions it’s borrowing this year,” said Todd MacKay, prairie director for the CTF. “The provincial government has a choice: either trim spending to balance the budget quickly or wait until rising interest payments force it to cut even deeper in the future.”

He warned that every credit rating downgrade means higher interest payments in the future. And with an operational deficit of $911 million this year, even 1/4 of a percent of an interest increase would cost Manitobans $2.3 million a year.

The province is already spending $874 million to pay interest costs on the provincial debt per year.

“It took years for Manitoba to get into this financial mess and it won’t be cleaned up overnight, but the recent budget increased spending,” said MacKay. “The provincial government has promised a value-for-money audit to set priorities and find places to trim spending – that critically important work needs to happen as soon as possible because Manitoba can’t afford to keep getting hit with credit rating downgrades.”