December 17, 2024
For Immediate Release (Winnipeg, Treaty One):
Manitoba’s Second Quarter Fiscal Update makes clear that the provincial government must reopen the conversation on provincial revenue and progressive taxation.
The ongoing large deficit means the Manitoba government cannot sustain the tax cuts introduced under the Pallister/Stefanson government. It must reverse or amend these measures, including the increase to the Basic Personal Amount and tax bracket increases, to provide sufficient revenue not only to fix healthcare but also to address the housing crisis, provide quality public services and fight the climate crisis.
Previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press December 16, 2024
By Dr. Andrew Lodge
Althea waits in line at a local food bank in Winnipeg. Her youngest son, less than six months old, is bundled up asleep in a stroller and she holds her two-year-old in her arms. Nearby, her oldest son, now four, plays with a toy car.
Released December 3, 2024
Social emergencies relating to deaths caused by suicide, violence, drug misuse/poisoning, community fires, and/or health-care services have been declared in northern First Nations in Manitoba and, in some communities, multiple times. While the definition of an emergency is “an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action,” the social emergencies called in these First Nations are not “unforeseen.” Rather, as our research has found, they are predictable. They are rooted in colonial conditions that have left many First Nations in dire straits.
Read full report on the MRA website here
Neoliberalism has led to a growing gap between the rich and the rest of us during a time of climate crisis.
This has led to many compounding crises – a polycrisis – while our collective toolkit and solidarity necessary to act together has rarely been weaker.
This talk focuses on how our views of government, debt, inflation – and, above all taxes – have made us doubt that we can do great things together. And it will explore what it might take for things to turn.
Himelfarb is the author of the new book “Breaking Free of Neoliberalism: Canada’s Challenge” (Lorimer Publishing). The book explains why neoliberalism – idealizing free-market capitalism persists and what can be done to take dramatic action on issues like inequality and global warming. This event doubles as the Winnipeg book launch.
Himelfarb is a former senior clerk of the Privy Council, Ambassador to Italy, Director of the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs, founder of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, and chair of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Jesse Hajer is an Associate Professor in Economics and Labour Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is the co-editor of Austerity in Manitoba: Public Service in Tough Times: Working Under Austerity in Manitoba, 2016-2022.
Published in the Winnipeg Free Press on November 22, 2024 and shared with permission.
The 2024 Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues Honouree: The Women’s Health Clinic
With reproductive rights being a central issue in the upcoming US election, the work of the Women’s Health Clinic (WHC) in Manitoba highlights the fragility of the hard-fought gains in women’s reproductive rights and freedoms. Right here at home, women and gender-diverse individuals still have a long way to go to fully realize these rights and freedoms. Thankfully, the WHC has a strong track record of advocating for and making progress on these human rights. It is our hope that by shining a light on the Women’s Health Clinic and those who work there, CCPA can help support and accelerate the achievement of these goals.
Women’s Health Clinic is being honoured at the 2024 Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues event Nov 3, 2024
For Immediate Release (Winnipeg, Treaty One): The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Manitoba is proud to be honouring the Women’s Health Clinic at their annual Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues fundraising brunch on Sunday, November 3rd, 2024 at 10:00 am at the Fairmont Hotel.
Women’s Health Clinic (WHC) is an intersectional feminist community health clinic with a deep history of activism in Manitoba. With an extraordinary record of serving women, girls, transgender, Two-Spirit, and non-binary people in our community for over 40 years, WHC continues to offer a range of sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and family support programs and services.
As well as serving often-marginalized people with essential services, WHC has a long history of social justice advocacy to influence health policy and practice and community care within Manitoba and beyond. Achievements include supporting the regulation of midwifery in Manitoba, establishing Ode’imin – Canada’s first stand-alone birth centre, and providing much-needed community access to abortion care and eating disorders prevention, treatment and recovery across the province.
The keynote speaker at the fundraising brunch in 2024 is researcher Katherine Scott and the title of her talk is “Still in Recovery: Assessing the pandemic’s impact on women in Manitoba”.
Katherine Scott is a Senior Researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives National office and serves as the director for its gender equality public policy work. She has worked in the community sector as a researcher, writer and advocate over the past 30 years, writing on issues from poverty and inequality to income security reform to funding for nonprofits. She was the lead researcher of The CCPA Gender Gap Index and Beyond Recovery project, which aims to help spur a national conversation about the challenges that women and gender-diverse people face and the progressive alternatives that are on offer at a local, provincial or national level.
Event details
Sunday November 3*, 2023
10 a.m.
Fairmont Hotel, 2 Lombard Place
*Please note daylight savings time ends on November 3rd, 2024 at 2 am.
Tickets on sale now!
Sponsorship opportunities available, please contact molly@policyalternatives.ca
About the Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues
Errol Black was a dedicated activist, leader, economist and Brandon City Councillor who fought tirelessly for social justice. When Errol passed away in 2012, a research chair was created to continue his legacy at CCPA Manitoba. Every fall, we honour a Manitoban who has demonstrated leadership in advancing the rights of citizens and positively influenced the political landscape of our province.
About the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is a non-profit charitable research institute active nationally since 1980 and in Manitoba since 1997. www.policyalternatives.ca
By Molly McCracken and Jim Silver
The cumulative impact of decades of regressive tax cuts has created the severe social, economic, and environmental problems seen daily in Manitoba. Tax cuts are not free money. They take dollars from the public realm where they would otherwise have been invested in health, education, and other essential public goods. Yet corporate and wealthy interests continue to lobby governments for more and more tax cuts.
By Niall Harney
Previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press October 24, 2024
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