Thursday October 13, 7pm – 8:15 pm online
Why Politicians and Big Business Love P3s, but the Rest of Us Shouldn’t, with Simon Enoch
Proponents of Public Private Partnerships (P3s) like to paint a very rosy picture of what the model can deliver. It’s a way for cash-strapped governments to deliver public infrastructure it otherwise couldn’t afford; it delivers projects on-time and on-budget; it harnesses private innovation to deliver cost effective and efficient building methods. Yet, governments that rely heavily on the P3s for public infrastructure are now awash in debt, and preside over crumbling schools, hospitals, roads and water plants. How P3s promise so much and deliver so little? CCPA-SK Director Simon Enoch breaks down the P3 model, demonstrating how it is a rigged game, designed to benefit big corporations and politicians, and leave the public holding the bag.
Simon Enoch is the Director of the Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Regina. He is the author of two reports on P3s – “Is There Value in Value for Money Assessments? Testing the VfM Test in Western Canada” and “A Partnership in Name Only: How the Public Sector Subsidizes the P3 Model – as well as numerous blogs and op-eds.
Thursday November 10, 7pm – 8:15 pm
Health Transformation and Innovation for Northern First Nations, with Dr Barry Lavalee
Dr. Barry Lavallee is a member of the Metis community of St. Laurent, Manitoba and a descendent of Duck Bay and Lake Manitoba First Nations. He is a family physician specializing in Indigenous health and northern practice focused on the healing needs of First Nation and Métis communities. Barry’s research is centered on chronic diseases, transgenerational trauma, the impact of colonization on Indigenous communities and international Indigenous health. He was the Director of Student Support and Education for the Centre for Aboriginal Health Education and Indigenous Health UGME Curriculum Lead for the University of Manitoba. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin INC. (KIM), focusing on Health Transformation and Innovation to address inequities for Northern First Nations.
Thursday December 8, 7 pm – 8:15 pm
Choice, Inclusion, Social Justice: Get Ready for the Battle! with Ellen Kruger and Kemlin Nembhard
Access to reproductive health services is a social justice issue. Such access helps guarantee the right of “security of the person” for women. During the 1980’s, in Manitoba and Canada, there was a protracted reproductive choice campaign that resulted, in 1988, in the elimination of the law restricting abortion services in Canada. The struggle for reproductive health services and reproductive choice has continued since then. To expand and entrench access to reproductive health, including access to abortion services, there is still much to be done. We will need to organize to prepare our community for the onslaught against reproductive health services that is bound to come to Canada from the United States.
Ellen Kruger is a long-time women’s health activist. She was founding board chair of the Women’s Health Clinic which opened in 1981 and the chairwoman of and spokesperson for the Coalition for Reproductive Choice from 1981 to 1989.
Kemlin Nembhard is the Executive Director of the Women’s Health Clinic in Winnipeg.
