WINNIPEG -- Post-secondary graduates are taking a financial hit in a relatively stand-pat budget tabled by the Manitoba government Tuesday that holds the line on spending and makes a modest dent in the deficit.

The budget forecasts an overall deficit of $840 million this fiscal year — $32 million less than last year.

The Progressive Conservatives are phasing out by next year an income-tax rebate on tuition for graduates who stay and work in the province. It is worth up to $2,500 a year per person.

There are no increases to personal or business taxes, but a number of other tax credits are being capped or cut.

A tax credit for research and development is being reduced to 15 per cent from 20. A credit for unpaid caregivers who help relatives stay in their own homes is being capped for the first time at $1,400 a year.

One tax credit is being increased. The maximum credit for donations to politicians and political parties is rising to $1,000 from $650.

The budget keeps a leash on spending in major departments at or near the rate of inflation. Health spending will rise 1.8 per cent while education will see an extra 1.1 per cent.

Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said the budget is cautious. The Tories have promised to balance the books by 2024.

"Our provincial neighbours are pursuing different paths involving stark decisions," Friesen said in an apparent reference to the recent Saskatchewan budget.

"With this budget, Manitoba charts its own balanced course — one that will confront the fiscal dangers we face with prudence, without higher taxes, deep cutbacks or unsustainable spending."

There is some new spending in the fiscal document.

The government plans to create 501 new licensed child-care spaces and 50 home-based ones. More than $9 million is to be available for new cancer drugs. Other money is going to improve care at three northern nursing stations and bolster the provincial ambulance fleet, Friesen said.

Workers making a minimum wage will have to wait to see whether their pay will be frozen for the second year in a row at $11 an hour. The former NDP government announced increases to the wage every year in its budgets and the Tories left the rate unchanged in their first budget last year.

"There won't be an announcement specifically on minimum wage in this budget," Friesen said. "I'll tell you to stay tuned a little longer."